Systems · April 2026
MES and Traceability Buildout
Replaced sticky-note job tracking on the production floor with a database-backed manufacturing execution system.
The problem
Job status on the floor lived on sticky notes and in people’s heads. Nobody could answer “where is lot 087 right now” without walking the building, and serial-level traceability existed only as paper travelers in a filing cabinet.
What I built
A manufacturing execution layer that tracks a unit from raw material through final inspection:
- A relational schema for parts, lots, serials, operations, and operator sign-offs
- Data entry front-ends that fit how the operators already work, so the system gets used instead of worked around
- Queries that answer the traceability questions an auditor actually asks
- Reporting that surfaces WIP and bottlenecks without anyone walking the floor
Result
Traceability is now a query rather than an archaeology project. The same data feeds scrap and yield reporting that previously had to be assembled by hand at month end.
Notes on adoption
The hard part was never the schema. It was designing entry screens that took less time than the sticky note did. Anything slower than the thing it replaces gets abandoned in week two.