Moving from Excel to an MES: taking production tracking off the spreadsheet

Why spreadsheet tracking breaks down

Excel is flexible, everyone knows it and it costs nothing; with a few jobs and a few people it works well. The trouble starts as the number of jobs and the number of people touching the file grow:

• Several versions: "production_tracking_final_v3_LATEST.xlsx" goes around by email and nobody is sure which copy is right.
• Nobody updates it: The sheet is filled in at the end of the day by someone in the office, not by the operator. At best the information is a day behind.
• No timestamps: A job marked "done" says nothing about when it started, how many times it stopped or how many hours it really took.
• Stops and scrap disappear: Why the machine stopped and how many parts were scrapped are either never written down or end up in a notes column.
• Reports are manual work: Operator hours or machine utilization are rebuilt with formulas and pivot tables every month.

In short, a spreadsheet is fine for keeping records, but it was not built to collect information while the work is being done. The difference with an MES is that the record is made by the person doing the job, during the job, with the time.

Lists to prepare before you switch

The good news is that most of what you keep in Excel is useful for the move. Gather these lists before you start:

The lists do not have to be perfect. Missing routings can be filled in as the system is used; what matters is that the same part is not entered under two different numbers.

A step-by-step migration plan

1. Pick a pilot area. Start with one work center or one customer's jobs rather than the whole shop.
2. Load the master data. Import parts and routings in bulk; set up machines, work centers and operators.
3. Open new jobs in the system. Open newly arriving orders in the MES; do not bother moving half-finished jobs, let them close out in the spreadsheet.
4. Print route cards. A card with a barcode or QR code for each job replaces the operator's paper traveler.
5. Train operators. Short and hands-on: scan the card, start, pick a reason when stopping, enter the count when finishing.
6. Run in parallel for two weeks. Keep the spreadsheet only for comparison; do not enter new information in it.
7. Widen the scope. Once the pilot area is settled, add the other groups and archive the spreadsheet.

Running in parallel and getting operators on board

A short parallel period lets you check that the numbers in the system match reality. But letting it drag on is the most common mistake: a team that has to record everything twice picks the easier option, which is the old one. Two weeks is usually enough; at the end of it, the MES should be the single source of truth.

Operator buy-in decides how the move goes. A few practical points:

• Say up front that the point is to see where jobs are waiting, not to watch people.
• Make the most trusted machinist the pilot user, so questions go to them first.
• If starting a job takes more than a few taps, simplify the screen, not the rule.
• In the first weeks, do not punish missing or wrong records; ask why they happened.
• Show operators the first benefit of the data: fewer "where is this job?" interruptions and a clearer job queue.

How the Excel import works in ModernMES

ModernMES takes your part list and routings from an Excel file in one go. The template downloaded from the parts screen has two sheets, named in Turkish:

• You can use your own file too: headers are matched loosely, English ones such as "Code", "Part code", "Operation" and "Minutes" included, and .xlsx, .xls and .csv are accepted.
• Time (min) is the whole step's estimated time, not the time per piece. If the sequence is left empty, steps are numbered 10, 20, 30.
• An empty unit is read as pieces; a unit name the system does not know is an error, because mixing up kg and pieces changes what every quantity means.
• Operations, resource groups and part types that are not defined yet are created automatically.
• Parts already in the system are left as they are, and a part that already has a routing does not get a second one.

When the file is loaded, a dry run comes first: it shows how many parts and routings will be added, which operations and groups will be created, and which row on which sheet has what error. Bad rows are skipped and the rest is saved in one go. Machines and operators are set up on screen.

After the import, adding a part to a project and applying its saved routing creates the work orders. An A4 route card can be printed for each project, with a barcode on every step for the terminal to scan, or a QR code for the operator to scan with their phone.

Frequently asked questions