Batch Cards
A Batch Card is the daily snapshot from one Production Unit. One card per unit per day (typically): "today, this line, here's what we did across all the batches we touched."
It's the document a line supervisor fills in at end-of-shift. It's also the source data for the Batch Card Labor Summary report and a major input to cost rollup for internal operations.
What's on a card
- Posting Date — the day the card covers.
- Production Unit — which unit (line, table, cell) this card belongs to.
- Batch Selection — which Production Batches this card is recording activity against. A single unit often touches multiple Batches in a day.
- Daily Summary — a small dashboard at the top showing total quantity produced, total minutes, defects, output per hour.
- Entries child table (Batch Card Entry) — the real content. One row per (Batch × operation) pair touched that day, with quantity, minutes, defects, and an affects_production_qty flag.
The affects_production_qty flag
The most important field on a Batch Card Entry, and the one that's easiest to misuse.
When affects_production_qty = checked, the quantity on this entry is treated as the actual production output of that Batch at that operation. It rolls into the Batch's quantity-completed totals and contributes to status changes.
When unchecked, the entry is a record of work but not a quantity claim. Examples: re-inspecting an already-counted bundle, doing a clean-up pass, recording rework time without claiming additional output.
The rule: check it once per Batch-operation, on the day the work is genuinely completed. Re-checking it on subsequent days would double-count.
How Batch Cards interact with Operation Ledger
A Batch Card Entry is not the same as an Operation Ledger Entry. They serve different purposes:
- The Operation Ledger Entry is the real-time event ("at 14:32, 40 bundles moved from Stitching Line A to Pressing").
- The Batch Card Entry is the end-of-shift recap ("today, Stitching Line A processed 320 units across three batches in 8 hours").
Most factories use both. The Operation Ledger is what drives the dashboards and the Where-is-it tracker. The Batch Card is what drives daily output reporting and labor cost rollup.
In the rare case where you've configured things to derive Batch Card data from Operation Ledger entries automatically, the supervisor just confirms and signs the card. Otherwise it's filled in by hand at end-of-shift.
Image: A Batch Card for one shift on a stitching line, with multiple Batch Card Entries showing quantities, minutes, defects, and the affects_production_qty flag set per row.
What to do next
For the event-level view of work moving in real time, see Operation Ledger.