Use case · Real-time WIP and OEE, no end-of-shift back-flush
Know the true state of the floor in real time, not at end of shift.
Shop-floor control on Cortrova turns paper travelers and whiteboards into live signal. Operators start, pause, and complete operations at the station; WIP, labor, machine time, scrap, and OEE update the moment work happens; and embedded Trunnion AI agents name the constraint and the jobs starving behind it before the shift is lost - so supervisors run the floor instead of reconstructing it.
The challenge
- !Work order status lives on paper travelers and whiteboards, so the floor's true state is hours stale by the time anyone reads it
- !Bottlenecks and starved machines only become obvious after the shift, when the schedule is already blown
- !Labor and machine time are back-flushed from memory, so cost, earned hours, and capacity numbers can't be trusted
- !Scrap and rework are recorded too late and too coarsely to drive any real yield improvement
- !Production, scheduling, quality, and inventory each hold a different version of where the job actually is
How Cortrova answers
- ✓Live work order execution from release to close, with operation-level start, pause, and complete signals captured straight from the station on a digital traveler
- ✓Real-time WIP, throughput, and OEE - availability, performance, and quality - by work center, line, and shift, computed from live signal rather than back-flushed estimates
- ✓Trunnion AI bottleneck detection ranks work centers by load against capacity, names the current constraint, and shows the jobs queued behind it before the shift ends
- ✓Labor and machine time captured per operation feed true job cost, earned hours, and real capacity without back-flush guesswork
- ✓Scrap, rework, and first-pass yield recorded at the operation with reason codes that flow to quality and finance
- ✓Paperless travelers and operator work instructions enforce the current revision at the station, ending the wrong-rev build and the lost traveler
- ✓Andon and floor alerts plus digital shift handover keep the next crew, the supervisor, and the schedule on the same live picture
- ✓Lot and serial genealogy captured as the unit is built, so full as-built traceability exists the moment the job closes
The problem
The floor's real state and the system's state are never the same.
On most shops the work order moves faster than the paperwork. By the time a traveler is keyed in and a whiteboard is wiped, the floor has already moved on - and so the schedule, the cost, and the inventory are all built on a picture that was true hours ago.
Stale by design
Status reconciled at end of shift means decisions all day are made against a floor that no longer exists.
Guessed numbers
Back-flushed labor and machine time turn job cost, earned hours, and capacity into estimates nobody fully trusts.
Five versions of one job
Production, scheduling, quality, inventory, and finance each track the job separately, so reconciling them becomes its own full-time job.
The answer
One job, one source of truth, captured where the work happens.
A work order moves through its routing operation by operation. Every start, pause, complete, scrap, and rework is captured at the station and shared instantly with scheduling, inventory, quality, and finance - so there is never a second version of where the job is.
Signal, not paperwork
Operators drive the job from a digital traveler; WIP and operation status are live across the platform the instant the station signals, not after a reconciliation pass.
Honest labor and time
Time is captured per operation as work happens, feeding earned hours, true job cost, and real capacity instead of end-of-shift recall.
Yield at the source
Scrap and rework are logged at the operation with reason codes, so a drifting process is caught while there is still material left to save.
The intelligence
Agents that watch the floor with you.
Shop-floor control is wired to Trunnion AI, the embedded engine that runs across Cortrova in three tiers of agents. On the floor, they read the same live signal your supervisors do - and act on it sooner.
Bottleneck Sentinel
Continuously ranks work centers by load against capacity, names the current constraint, and shows the jobs queued behind it before the constraint shows up in the numbers.
Throughput Forecast
Projects shift and day output from real-time pace, so a job heading for a late finish is surfaced at hour two - early enough to add a setup, move labor, or re-sequence - not at handover.
Yield Watch
Correlates scrap and rework reason codes by part, operation, and machine, flagging a drifting process while there is still material to save.
How it works
Adopting shop-floor control.
Release the work order to the floor
Scheduling releases the job and its routing flows to the station as a digital traveler, with the current revision and operator work instructions enforced so only the approved process can run.
Capture the work at the operation
Operators start, pause, and complete each operation at the station, logging labor and machine time, scrap, and rework with reason codes as the work happens - no end-of-shift back-flush.
See WIP, OEE, and the constraint live
WIP, throughput, and OEE update in real time by work center, line, and shift, while Trunnion AI names the current bottleneck and the jobs starving behind it.
Act before the shift is lost
A throughput forecast off real-time pace flags a late job at hour two, so a supervisor adds a setup, moves labor, or asks scheduling to re-sequence against real capacity.
Close the job with traceability intact
Lot and serial genealogy, earned hours, true cost, and yield are already captured, so the job closes with full as-built traceability and clean numbers flowing to quality and finance.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
How does Cortrova replace paper travelers and whiteboards?
Each work order is driven by its routing and BOM through a sequence of operations and work centers. Operators start, pause, and complete operations directly at the station from a digital traveler, capturing labor and machine time, scrap, and rework as they go. The result is live WIP and operation status shared across the platform, instead of a paper traveler and a whiteboard reconciled hours later.
What does the floor see in real time?
WIP, throughput, and OEE - broken into availability, performance, and quality - by work center, line, and shift, alongside cycle time and downtime by reason code. Because the data comes from live operation signals and not back-flushed estimates, the numbers reflect what the floor is actually doing right now, not what someone remembered at end of shift.
How do the AI agents help a supervisor stay ahead of the constraint?
Trunnion AI agents continuously compare load against capacity at every work center, name the current constraint, and show the jobs starving behind it. Paired with a throughput forecast off real-time pace, a supervisor sees a job heading for a late finish at hour two of the shift - early enough to add a setup, move labor, or re-sequence - instead of finding out at handover.
Does shop-floor control keep regulated and traceable builds honest?
Yes. Lot and serial genealogy is captured as the unit is built, and electronic batch and device-history records are produced as the job runs, supporting FDA 21 CFR Part 11, AS9100, and IATF 16949 traceability requirements. Routings and operator instructions are revision-controlled at the station so only the current approved process can be executed.
How does it stay in sync with scheduling and inventory?
Shop-floor control shares one data model with the rest of Cortrova. Operation status feeds the finite-capacity scheduler so the plan re-sequences against real capacity, while BOM consumption and back-flush relieve raw and WIP inventory as operations complete. Scrap, rework, and yield flow to quality and finance, so a single job event updates the whole platform at once.
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