What is Shop Floor Control? Why is it in the ERP system?

What is Shop Floor Control?

Shop Floor Control (SFC) means the system that controls and manages work on the production floor (shop floor), which involves tracking the status of production orders, allocating resources, labour, materials, and machines, as well as collecting production data in real time, to analyse and improve production efficiency in the future.

The main functions of Shop Floor Control include:

1. Track Work Orders
2. Scheduling
3. Material Control
4. Record Actual Production Data
5. Analyse the efficiency of machines and labour

How is Shop Floor Control important in an ERP system?

An ERP system is a system that brings various business processes together — whether finance, purchasing, the warehouse, production, and human resources — and Shop Floor Control is one of the functions in the ERP production module, playing an important role in linking production data to data in other parts of the organisation.

The benefits of Shop Floor Control in ERP:

1. Real-time Data: Executives can see production status immediately, helping them decide more accurately and quickly.

2. Reduce waste and cost: Continuous control of material usage and quality inspection helps reduce waste and control cost better.

3. Increase Production Efficiency: Bottlenecks can be identified immediately, and the production plan adjusted appropriately.

4. Link data with other systems: Such as the warehouse, purchasing, or accounting, making data consistent across the whole organisation.

5. Analyse and improve processes: Data from Shop Floor Control can be analysed to plan and improve the production process further.

Conclusion: why Shop Floor Control is necessary in an ERP system

Shop Floor Control is not merely a tool to control production, but is also a core for building the organisation’s competitiveness. By combining SFC with the ERP system, the organisation can increase efficiency, reduce cost, and raise product quality systematically.

Understanding and using Shop Floor Control correctly helps the organisation drive production to new standards in an age where business competition grows more intense every day.