BellHawk Work-in-Process
Tracking and Traceability Solutions

BellHawk enables organizations such as manufacturing companies, materials converters and food processing organizations to track their work-in-process in real-time as well as to track the labor, materials, and equipment resources used during production.  BellHawk solutions are fully integrated with warehouse and stock room tracking, as well as with picking, packing and shipping operations. BellHawk works stand-alone or integrated with most ERP, manufacturing control and accounting solutions.

A major feature of BellHawk production tracking solutions is their ability to collect tracking and traceability data by container, lot and serial number. This enables a BellHawk system to quickly generate reports that can relate defective products shipped to customers back to vendor supplied materials and the various steps in the manufacturing process. Once the source of the problem has been identified, BellHawk can then produce a report listing all the containers of products and their lot and serial numbers that may have been affected. This enables recalls to be limited to just problematic materials and minimizes the risks of being put out of business as a result of the cost of lawsuits or massive product recalls.

BellHawk works for both made-to-order and made-to-stock operations or a combination of both. It also works for tracking secondary operations, such as repair, assembly, kitting, and packaging that may be carried out as part of distribution operations.

BellHawk work-in-process capabilities are also used in applications such as tracking the processing and storage of DNA and other biological samples. They are also used to track critical repair and refurbishment activities.

BellHawk includes the following production tracking capabilities:

1.    Tracking the receipt of raw materials.

2.    Tracking job status in real–time.

3.    Tracking the picking of materials for jobs

4.    Tracking the consumption of materials on jobs.

5.    Tracking work–in–progress as it moves from production operation to operation.

6.    Tracking the QC status of raw, WIP and finished goods

7.    Tracking intermediate materials and finished goods produced by jobs.

8.    Tracking materials returned to inventory from jobs.

9.    Tracking labor and machine time expended on job steps.

10.  Tracking scrap and rework.

11.  Tracking the status of machines including setup time, run time and down time.

12.  Tracking quantities of raw, intermediate and finished goods on hand.

13.  Tracking production of finished goods.

14.  Costing work–in–process and finished goods.

Barcode scanning is used to record the job, labor, machine and material transactions. This scanning is performed on PCs equipped with corded or cordless scanners. Mobile computers can also be used to record the movement of materials. The job, material, labor and equipment tracking data is stored in the BellHawk database where it can be viewed in real–time by managers, supervisors and customer service people.

Bills of Materials (BOMs) and routes can be entered using BellHawk screens and stored within the BellHawk database. Alternately they can be imported from an external ERP or manufacturing control system. Similarly work orders can be initiated from within BellHawk or can be imported from an external system. These BOMs and routes can be used to print out barcoded travelers which are scanned to record job status as well as labor, materials and machine time consumed on jobs.

Some of the special features of a BellHawk tracking solution include:

1. Ability to work with multiple units of measure, including automated conversions between different measure types.

2. Ability to use wireless mobile computers for data collection by mobile workers.

3. Mistake proofing by warning employees if they attempt to use the wrong materials or materials that have not passed QC inspection.

4. Tracking of barcoded WIP without establishing separate part numbers for WIP items between job steps.

5. Ability to track multiple products processed as a group and employees working on multiple jobs at the same time.

6. Capture of activity based costing data for products and jobs, including the ability to feed labor, material and equipment resource usage cost data to ERP and accounting systems.

7. Ability to integrate with process control and test equipment to capture process and test parameters as part of the complete tracking and traceability record.

8. Ability to integrate with weighing scales, fixed station barcode and RFID scanners, and automated counting equipment.

BellHawk work-in-process tracking solutions make extensive use of technologies such as barcode scanning, RFID and wireless mobile computing to deliver solutions that are  easy to use by employees who have limited computer literacy. Through the use of its BSAF (pronounced be-safe) store and forward technology, BellHawk is able to support mobile data collection operations in environments with limited and intermittent communications. This enables reliable operations in difficult industrial environments such as foundries, welding shops, clean-rooms, laboratories and molding operations.

BellHawk starts with pre-built software modules that typically provide over 95% of the lines of code needed for most inventory tracking and traceability applications and then customizes this code to the specific needs of its clients. Selected modules are delivered as a complete working system.

BellHawk then works with local suppliers of barcode equipment and IT services to provide complete solutions at very cost effective prices. These solutions can include pre-implementation systems design and implementation project management services. They can also include on-site system setup, training and operational support services.

The BellHawk software can be closely integrated with existing accounting, ERP, CRM and process control systems using the DEX applications programming interface or the Bell Connector business process interface.

By teaming with local support organizations BellHawk is able to deliver high-capability systems at very cost effective prices.  While the primary purpose of most BellHawk applications is to prevent mistakes and to capture tracking and traceability data, many organizations find that their BellHawk systems pay for themselves within 6 months or less due to improved operational efficiencies.

BellHawk based tracking and traceability solutions range in cost from around $10,000 to about $200,000, with a median of around $50,000. This includes the cost of the software licenses, barcode equipment and mobile computers, and systems implementation services. To estimate the cost of implementing your solution, please click here.

To learn more about BellHawk Systems cost-effective implementation process, please click here.

For details of some applications where BellHawk is especially suitable, please click here. BellHawk also supports extensive capabilities for inventory tracking. Please see separate data sheet on inventory tracking for details. Also please see separate data sheet on tracking and traceability support for those industries which are involved in health or human safety.

For more information about how BellHawk Systems can help you with your specific production and material tracking solution, please click on the link below: