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Defining the appropriate criteria for utilizing Lantek’s Job Explorer can be a challenging task. It may not seem like a pressing issue initially, but after several months of recording jobs without any structure, it becomes apparent just how important it is to avoid losing information and increase productivity with Lantek.
The goal of this article is to help you understand how to properly use Job Explorer to maximize your efficiency and productivity. In the following paragraphs, I will describe the prerequisites, necessary steps, and helpful tips and tricks for using Job Explorer effectively. At the end of the article, you will have a clear and complete idea of how to use Lantek Job Explorer avoiding stress, wasted time and low productivity.
One of the most important elements that is absolutely essential when using Lantek is its Job Explorer. The explorer, used well, will allow you to manage and have projects, jobs and sub-jobs organized in a folder system that is displayed in the form of a tree structure. If you take the time to keep it organized, it will help you work more efficiently and increase productivity.
Surely, more than once, in a hurry, you will have saved jobs in this way.
- John’s work
- Work of John 2
- Final work of John.
- Ultimate John Job 2
- John’s work final final version.
This is not unusual. But, it is the responsibility of the head of the technical office to define a valid work organization structure that avoids these poor naming and tracking methods. There are as many different forms of organization as companies, or even users. However, I strongly advise that, before starting to use Lantek, you define a valid work organization system that will work for all cases that arise in production.
Companies with manufacturing for their own product catalogue.
This type of company manufactures and markets its own products and the criteria for organizing the work is divided into two main branches
- Stock or catalogue products. Jobs for these types of products are usually organized by order numbers with a simple counter. There are times when the order number and job number are distinguished, in this case, hierarchically, the order number is usually above, since an order can contain several jobs. In our case we name the job with the digit of the year, the digit of the month, and the job number of that month.
- Special custom manufacturing jobs. These jobs usually have a digit that identifies that it is special, followed by the digit that identifies the customer.
This way of organizing jobs saves time and resources, which in turn allows you to increase your production capacity.
Companies that offer manufacturing for third parties.
In this case, it is best to organize the tree starting from the client. An example could be the following.
- Client 1
- Project 1
- Work 1
- Work 2
- Project 2
- Client 2
In this example, it’s cleaner if you use client numbers and project numbers instead of names.
This system will help you improve communication and coordination with your customers. By using the job scout effectively, your company will be able to provide a more efficient service, critical when there are extensions or reorders months later, forcing you to review what you did previously. If, in addition, you combine it with the function of reusing nests and CNC machining programmes, you will be able to improve management and increase your job production capacity.
General knowledge of Lantek. It is essential to have previous knowledge of Lantek, its work areas and its functionalities to be able to optimise the use of Job Explorer. Experience in its use is the best guide in building valid criteria that will help you organize your work folders.
If you are new to the software, let your Lantek partner guide you. If you are installing Lantek for the first time in your company, it is better to be advised by your Lantek partner who will be able to guide you through the process.
Obviously, from the technical side, you have to have good quality hardware with a valid license. If possible, I recommend one or more floating licenses installed on the server, which will make using Lantek more flexible in multi-user environments.
Regarding the databases, Lantek allows you to work with different databases, so that when you change the database, you change everything. Jobs (and their organization structure), parts, machines, tools…everything.
In some very specific environments, it is necessary and recommended to work with different databases but, this is uncommon in most companies.
1. Open Lantek.
2. If you have it configured, the Job Explorer bar will be to the left of the screen. If you don’t have it, in the Lantek toolbar, click the "Job Explorer" button to access it.
3. To add a job, Right-click where you want to add it and click "Add Job"
4. If you want to add a subfolder that hangs from another, you can also do it by right-clicking on the folder where you want it to hang from and click on the "Add folder" option.
5. You can move jobs or rearrange them by copying or cutting and pasting both jobs and folders.
6. By clicking with the right mouse button, on a folder or on a job, you have additional fields that can be customized which will let you label a job better if it needs more detail.
7. You also have an observations field, which will allow you to note any observations about the work that may be of interest to the team.
That’s all.
By following these tips and tricks, you will be able to take full advantage of the features and capabilities of Lantek Job Explorer, and you will be able to efficiently optimize your work.
See you in the next article.
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