The station

The station is one machine's queue, made for a tablet next to the machine: what's running now, what's next, and a few large buttons. What operators tap there is what happened, and the board follows within seconds.

Open a station#

Open a machine's station with the tablet icon next to its name on the board, or with Station on the Today view. Bookmark it on the tablet; the list next to the machine's name switches to another machine's queue. The station:

• works for any team member;
• keeps the screen on while it is open, where the browser allows it;
• checks for changes every 5 seconds while it is on screen;
• starts in the dark theme to cut glare (change it under ⋯ › This screen: Dark (less glare), Light or Same as the site).

Operator: at the top is the signed-in person. On a shared tablet that stays signed in as a shop account, tap it and answer Who is working here? with a team member, or Someone else and a name. Each start and finish records who did it.

Now#

The top card shows the step on the machine: the job, the customer, the status, a picture of the imposed sheet, the sheets, size, stock and inks, the ready checks and the due date. A ring shows the time spent against the estimate; it turns amber at 90 % and red when the step runs over, next to the new expected finish.

The buttons#

• Start starts the step in one tap. When your team tracks makeready (see Schedule settings), Makeready done marks the start of the run.
• Pause asks for a reason, then Resume carries on. Paused time doesn't count as work on the step.
• Hold for Done: press and hold for about half a second until the ring fills. How many good ones? starts at the planned amount, with steps of 10 and 100; add any Waste and tap Finish. For 10 seconds afterwards, Undo takes it back.
• Problem asks What's wrong? (see below). The step shows Problem on the board and planners are told. Problem solved puts the step back on pause, and Resume carries on.

A button that can't be used says why instead of disappearing, for example "Waiting for: Proof". A step waiting for stock or a die shows Stock arrived or Die ready right there; tap it when the material comes in (see Ready checks).

A File problem tells prepress and links the job to the 1-up editor and preflight.

Start something else#

The floor always wins: whatever an operator starts is recorded, and the plan follows.

• Start while another step is running on the machine: the station asks Pause … and start or It's done: finish it and start. The paused step waits at the top of Up next, and the plan puts what is left of it after the new one, never both at once. Tap it and Resume here to go back to it (the other one pauses), or, for a step with a problem, Problem solved once it is sorted.
• Start a later step first: it becomes the machine's next step. Why now? (optional) takes a reason (Material ready, Manager asked, Grouping), but you don't have to give one. Planners see it in the job's activity.
• Run something else here lists the ready steps planned on other machines that this machine can do. Starting one moves it here, and both machines' plans follow. When there are none, the button says so.
• Start before the previous step is done: allowed, and shown as a conflict on the board.

Up next#

Below the current step, Up next lists the next steps with their planned start (with the day above it when it isn't today, such as "Tomorrow"), quantity and the makeready they need after the one before ("same stock + inks · 10 min makeready"). Later today folds the rest. The next two steps don't change unless a planner changes them, and when one does, the station says so.

Machine down#

Machine down blocks the machine from now. Answer Back up when?: 30 min, 1 h, 2 h, End of shift or Not known. The machine's row on the board gets red stripes and its name says "Down · back 10:30", its work moves later, and planners get a Machine down alert. When it runs again, tap Machine back up: it is the big button of the step the breakdown stopped (or in the red banner at the top), or Back up now in the downtime list on Setup › Machines & hours. That step goes back on pause, so the next tap is Resume. See Shop hours and downtime.

Mistakes#

Undo in the 10 seconds after Done takes it back.

Losing the connection#

Every tap is kept on the tablet and sent in order. When the network drops, the station shows a count of taps waiting to be sent, with Retry now, and says they are kept on this screen and sent as soon as the connection is back. The server records each tap once, even when it arrives twice.