Manufacturing case study
Replacing paper timesheets with a shop-floor application: a Quebec manufacturing case study
By DEVTom · Published · Reviewed
A Quebec manufacturer replaced a paper time-entry workflow with a focused shop-floor application. Shared tablets, NFC identification and project and activity capture supported payroll preparation and labour reporting. A parallel rollout helped validate business rules and user behaviour; the resulting operational data also created a clearer view of production activity without claiming unsupported numerical outcomes.
Client context and initial workflow
A Quebec manufacturer doing project-based work recorded employee time on paper. The information was later interpreted and entered for payroll and operational reporting.
Business problem
The delay between work and entry made discrepancies, project allocation and support time harder to see. The business needed reliable employee, project and activity context without turning production workers into data-entry clerks.
Why a generic screen was not enough
The interaction had to work on the shop floor. Shared tablets and workstations gave capture a predictable location; NFC identified employees quickly, while barcode-compatible flows could identify projects or activities where supported.
Workflow and business rules
- •Employee identification
- •Project and activity selection
- •Start, stop and task-switch events
- •Break and overtime rules
- •Supervisor review of exceptions and corrections
- •Approved information for payroll preparation and labour reports
Safe rollout and validation
Paper remained in parallel for several weeks. Comparing the two processes exposed differences between declared habits and captured events, helped distinguish software issues from old practices and provided concrete cases for validating rounding and exception rules.
Qualitative outcomes
The system produced more timely, structured records for payroll preparation, labour reporting and job-cost discussions. It also made production activity more visible while work was happening. No before-and-after percentage is asserted because the repository contains no verified public metric.
Adaptability and lessons
After deployment, an unusual night-shift request during extreme heat showed why business rules must remain explicit and adaptable. The relevant schedule rule could be reviewed, changed, tested and deployed without discarding the controls that still mattered.
For other small manufacturers, the lesson is to design capture around the physical environment, keep a safe fallback during validation, separate the fast worker path from supervisor review and treat adoption as part of the system.
Where DEVTom can help
DEVTom builds focused operational systems around real shop-floor constraints, including time capture, project costing, payroll preparation, reporting and production visibility. It does not provide PLC, SCADA or machine-control engineering.
Related services and field evidence
Frequently asked questions
Are quantitative results available?
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No verified public before-and-after metrics are available, so the outcomes are described qualitatively.
Start with the operational problem
DEVTom can help assess the workflow, compare realistic options and define the smallest useful next step.
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