Best Hardware Choices for Fulcrum on the Shop Floor
Fulcrum launch manager, Betzi Nimeth, shares her insights on the best hardware choices to support the shop floor and what she's found works best with customers. Choosing the right hardware is crucial for maximizing the productivity of your team and bridging the gap between the digital and physical world.
Key Hardware Recommendations:
- Tablets: A 10-inch screen is recommended for operators to easily view Fulcrum's job tracking screen and zoom in on attachments. Consider usage patterns, mobility, and the need for mounting options when choosing tablets. Durable cases with accessible camera features are also essential for scanning QR codes and labels.
- Charging solutions: Consider wireless charging stations or a central charging station where operators can plug in their devices at the end of the day.
- Wi-Fi access points: Install Wi-Fi access points throughout the shop floor to ensure seamless connectivity and real-time progress updates.
- Barcode scanners and label printers: Handheld scanning devices and label printers are useful for shipping and receiving, enabling efficient inventory management and item tracking.
- TVs for displaying key information: Mount a television on the shop floor to display schedules, due dates, and real-time operations, keeping the team informed and aligned with ongoing tasks.
By investing in the right hardware, your shop can get the most out of Fulcrum in production, shipping, and receiving. To explore the capabilities of Fulcrum’s Job Tracking, go here.
Transcript:
Hi, I'm Betsy. Let's talk about what you might need for hardware when implementing Fulcrum and the important role it plays. Hardware bridges the gap between the digital and physical world and allows for a lot of the ease of use in live data entry. You really need the right hardware for your team to be able to take full advantage of the system. We're going to talk about considerations in setting this up and what we've seen work really well for our customers. It's sometimes overlooked but it makes a huge difference in the productivity of your team. Let's first look at some recommendations for hardware specs to consider when choosing devices. You'll want to pay attention to your resolution, RAM, and your screen size. We recommend a 10-inch screen because if you think of how your team is actually going to be viewing Fulcrum, using the job tracking screen, you're going to want them to be able to zoom in on any attachments necessary and pay attention to the details you've added in.
There are some additional considerations you should take into account when looking at devices. Take a look at how your team is currently set up. Are you moving at a regular cadence from different pieces of machinery to other pieces? Are you getting up and grabbing inventory regularly, or is it more stationary where it would make more sense for your tablets to have a mounting action, whether you're fabricating your own or getting a store-bought version? Is it something that can remain at a station, docked and out of the working area? If it is something that's more mobile, consider a more durable case. I have an 11-inch tablet with me. It does simplify seeing what I need to on job tracking, tapping into my operations, and doing any of that rotating or zooming that's necessary. The back of it does have a couple of different options for me when carrying this tablet from different stations and then additionally, it is extremely durable while still leaving my camera open in case I need to scan any QR codes or labels and double-check what's necessary.
You'll want to consider how your devices are being charged. Some devices allow for wireless charging at a station, whereas we had other customers who set up a central charging station so that each night their operators are plugging in the devices before they head out for the day. You'll also want to consider adding Wi-Fi access points throughout the shop floor to make sure that nobody is out of the loop on current progress. When it comes to shipping and receiving, you may want to consider a nice label printer. Additionally, handheld scanning devices can be useful if you're doing a lot of scanning of items leaving your building or movement of inventory within. Handheld scanner devices can be faster than the camera on a tablet. Additionally, some of our customers opt for a television on the shop floor to display the schedule to keep the team up to date on what jobs are upcoming and those due dates that are approaching. Another option would be having your real-time operations displayed on a TV. This keeps the team in the loop on what operations are currently running on the floor.
Hope this helps give an idea of the types of things you should consider when making your shop more digital and check out our other videos to learn more about Fulcrum.
This transcript and summary were created with the help of Ai.
