HR & Factory Structure

Manage your workers, shift crews, skills, and wage groups. Set up your full factory hierarchy from site down to subassembly. This data powers OEE calculations and labor cost reports. It also makes sure the right people work at the right workstations.

Workers

The Workers screen is your main list of all production staff. Anyone who logs into a terminal, gets assigned to a work order, or shows up in labor costs needs a worker record here.

Each worker record contains:

• Employee Code – a unique ID, usually the same as in your HR system
• Full Name and Email – used for notifications and login
• Assigned Crew – the shift team they belong to
• Personnel Class – operator, technician, supervisor, etc.
• Status – active or inactive
• Skills – decides which workstations they can use

This list connects to the Operator View on the shop floor. When someone logs into a terminal, the system checks their employee code. It loads their permissions, skills, and crew. Only qualified operators can start work orders on specific machines.

Worker Absences

The Worker Absences screen tracks when people are away. This includes vacation, sick leave, training, and other reasons. Supervisors use this data to plan crew assignments. The system also uses it to calculate available labor capacity.

Each record includes the Worker, Start Date, End Date, Reason (vacation, sick, training, personal, etc.), and optional Notes. A calendar view shows team availability across days and weeks. This makes it easy to spot coverage gaps before they delay production.

Personnel Classes

Personnel Classes group workers by role. Common classes are Operator, Senior Operator, Technician, Team Lead, Supervisor, and Quality Inspector.

These classes help in several ways:

• They set default permissions in the system
• You can filter reports by class (e.g., "show only technician activity")
• Supervisors can quickly see who does what

Crews

Crews are shift teams – groups of workers who work together at the same time. A typical factory has Crew A (morning), Crew B (afternoon), and Crew C (night). Each crew has set start and end times.

Crew assignments affect several parts of the system:

• Real-Time Monitoring shows which crew is on shift right now
• OEE reports can be filtered by crew to compare shift performance
• Labor costs are split based on which crew worked on each order

Each worker belongs to one crew at a time. You can reassign people when you need temporary coverage.

Crew Break Windows

Crew Break Windows set the scheduled break times for each crew. This matters for accurate OEE calculation. Break time must be excluded from planned production time. Without this setup, a 30-minute lunch break would look like downtime and lower your Availability score unfairly.

Each break window specifies:

• Crew – which shift team gets this break
• Start Time and End Time – when the break happens
• Paid or Unpaid – used for labor cost calculations

You can add multiple breaks per crew – for example, a 15-minute morning break, a 30-minute lunch, and a 15-minute afternoon break.

Skills

The Skills module is a list of all certifications and qualifications your workers can have. You attach skills to worker records. You can also require certain skills for specific workstation types. This way, only qualified people operate certain equipment.

Each skill has a Name (e.g., "Forklift Operation", "CNC Programming Level 2"), a Description, and an optional Expiration Period. Some certifications need renewal. You can set an expiration date for each worker's skill. The system will alert you when recertification is due.

Wage Groups

Wage Groups set hourly or per-unit pay rates for different types of workers. These rates go into the Production Cost report so you can see accurate labor costs per work order.

Common wage groups include: Standard Operator, Skilled Operator, Technician, Overtime Rate, and Weekend Rate. Each worker gets a wage group. When they log time on a work order, the system multiplies hours by the rate. This keeps cost data accurate without showing individual salaries.

Factory Structure

The Factory Structure module maps out your entire plant – from the building down to individual machine parts. OpenMES uses this hierarchy for filtering, reporting, asset assignment, and access control. It follows the ISA-95 standard:

Sites

A Site is the top level. It usually means one building or campus. If you have multiple locations, create one site for each.

Areas

An Area is a zone inside a site – like "Production Hall A" or "Warehouse Zone." Areas group related factories and lines together.

Factories

A Factory is a separate production unit inside an area – like "Injection Molding" or "Assembly."

Divisions

A Division is a smaller group inside a factory. It usually matches a department or product family.

Workstation Types – categories of equipment with required skills

Workstation Devices – your individual physical machines

Subassemblies

Subassemblies are parts inside a machine that you can track, maintain, and replace on their own – like a spindle in a CNC lathe or a print head in a labeling machine. Tracking them helps you plan maintenance and replace parts before they break.