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When your intralogistics is flying blind – and how to change that
18. May 2026When your intralogistics is flying blind – and how to change that
18. May 2026Flying Blind in Manufacturing — and How to Stop It
INDUTRAX PRODUCTTRACKER for Production Planning & Material Flow Control
Order 1247 should have been on Line 3 long ago. The planning department knows this — but they don’t know where the order is right now. So they call the shop floor. Someone goes to check. The line waits. And the same thing will happen again tomorrow.
This scenario is a daily reality in many manufacturing companies — not because employees are doing a poor job, but because information is lacking. If you can’t see material flows in real time, you can’t manage them proactively. If you don’t have historical data, you can’t learn. And if you don’t learn, you can’t optimize.
In this article, we’ll show you the specific problems that slow down decision-makers in material flow management on a daily basis — and how the INDUTRAX PRODUCTTRACKER steps in exactly where they’re needed: with automatic real-time tracking, complete history records, and proactive bottleneck detection.
The Blind Spots in Production:
What It Costs Companies Every Day
Transparency in manufacturing is not optional. It is a prerequisite for quality assurance, capacity planning, on-time delivery, and continuous improvement processes (CIP). Without it, structural problems arise that recur on a daily basis:
Which industries are particularly affected?
Automotive Industry & Tier 1 Suppliers
In this context, timing is literally everything. If an order isn't in the right place at the right time, the line comes to a standstill. Every minute of downtime costs money. Production managers need information — down to the second — on the location and status of all orders and work-in-progress parts.
Mechanical Engineering & Plant Manufacturing
Long lead times, a wide variety of variants, complex bills of materials: In mechanical engineering, every production order is a project in its own right. Without real-time tracking, it’s unclear which stage of processing components are in — which turns assembly and delivery scheduling into a guessing game.
Agricultural Machinery & Aircraft Manufacturing
A high number of variants, long product manufacturing times and strict quality requirements demand maximum transparency regarding components and operating resources. A lack of traceability or uncertainties regarding availability quickly lead to delays, rework and high costs.
Errors or discrepancies are detected too late — leading to problems such as scrap, rework, and additional costs. Work in progress is not visible in real time, which causes bottlenecks and delays in the material flow.
Nicolai Karl
Product Manager, INDUTRAX
INDUTRAX PRODUCTTRACKER: When Material Flows Become Visible
PRODUCTTRACKER isn't just another planning software tool. It serves as the bridge between physical reality and digital planning — and fills the exact gap needed to make informed decisions in production planning. What's really happening on the Shop Floor, shift by shift, order by order?
PRODUCTTRACKER automatically tracks the movements, times, and locations of orders, semi-finished parts, and material flows — across locations and processes, seamlessly and without any manual effort. The result is not just another data source — but a dynamic foundation for data-driven control.
- WIP Tracking: Track Work-in-Progress Inventories in Real Time, Ensure Traceability
- Automatic congestion alerts for delays and unplanned dwellings
- Validated Movement Histories as the Basis for Continuous Improvement and Lean Management
- Target vs. Actual Comparison: Automatically Analyze Planned vs. Actual Lead Times
- e-label Integration: Review, Approval, and Rejection Statuses Visible Without Any Extra Effort
- Integration with SAP, MES, and ERP—up and running in just a few weeks
Here's how PRODUCTTRACKER solves specific production problems
WIP Tracking: Finally See Work in Progress Inventory in Real Time
How much work is currently in production? At which stations are orders backing up? Which line is running at full capacity, and which is waiting for materials? PRODUCTTRACKER visualizes all of this in real time — on a freely configurable map or in live reports — without the need for manual data entry.
Bottleneck Detection: Take Action Before It Gets Costly
As soon as a job takes longer than planned on a machine, PRODUCTTRACKER triggers an alert — via email, through an interface to the MES, or directly in SAP. Production managers are notified before a bottleneck leads to a line stoppage. Reactive firefighting becomes proactive management.
Historical Data for CIP and Lean: Data, Not Opinions
How long does a process step actually take? Where do most delays occur? Which order type causes the most deviations? PPS systems don’t answer these questions — but PRODUCTTRACKER does. Validated movement histories provide the data foundation that Lean teams can actually work with.
Target vs. Actual Comparison: Aligning Planning with Reality
PRODUCTTRACKER automatically compares what was planned with what actually happened — throughput times, dwell-times, and zone utilization. Production planning becomes more realistic because it learns from real data.
Quality Assurance & Traceability
In regulated industries, every action is a potential audit requirement. PRODUCTTRACKER automatically generates validated, tamper-proof histories — which can be exported at any time to BI tools or directly to SAP. Verification, approval, and lock statuses are displayed via e-labels.
Technology Neutrality & Seamless Integration
PRODUCTTRACKER is deliberately designed to be technology-agnostic — it adapts to your existing infrastructure, not the other way around. No vendor lock-in, no forced investments in new hardware.
Supported tracking technologies
- GPS - outdoor area, long distances, self-location with limitations due to high energy requirements and low accuracy
- BLE AOA (Bluetooth Low Energy Angle-of-Arrival) - precise hall location in real time, energy-efficient
- UWB (Ultra-Wideband) - centimeter-accurate hall location in real time for high-precision applications
- LiDAR - centimeter-precise, laser-based self-location without infrastructure requirements
- WiFi - use of existing WLAN infrastructure
- BLE presence detection - low-cost, energy-efficient detection of whereabouts
- RFID - contactless identification and booking
Integration is possible via REST API, MQTT, database import, or file import — with an optional SAP connector and role-based access control (SSO). Thanks to the no-code/low-code logic editor, rules, alerts, and processes are configured directly by the business department — no development project, no programming required.
What PRODUCTTRACKER Specifically Offers Production Managers
Digital material flow management isn't just a pipe dream — it's an operational investment with an immediate ROI. Companies that use PRODUCTTRACKER report:
- Immediate, real-time visibility into all orders, work-in-progress, and inventory in progress
- Proactive bottleneck detection — respond before production line stoppages occur
- Complete, automatic records without the need for manual data entry
- A solid data foundation for continuous improvement projects, lean analyses, and material flow optimization
- More realistic production planning through target-actual comparisons based on real data
- Verifiable traceability for quality and compliance requirements
PRODUCTTRACKER is not a replacement for your PPS or ERP software. It is the missing link between what is planned — and what actually happens. If you can see material flows, you can control them. If you control them, you produce better.
Your contact person
Peter Portner
Segment Manager
Request a demo now!
Would you like to know how our customized solutions and digital tools — such as the INDUTRAX PRODUCTTRACKER — can help you optimize your production planning and material flow management?
I'd be happy to advise you and show you how we can take your manufacturing to the next level.
FAQ - Frequently asked questions
What is production planning and control?
Production planning and control encompasses all measures related to planning, organizing, and monitoring production—including resources, capacities, and deadlines. PRODUCTTRACKER complements traditional PPS systems by adding the crucial real-time dimension: What is actually happening on the Shop Floor?
What sets PRODUCTTRACKER apart from traditional PPS software?
PPS systems are planning-oriented and represent target states. PRODUCTTRACKER provides real-time data: automatically recorded movement data, dwell times, and proactive bottleneck alerts. It does not replace PPS—it connects it to reality and makes planning decisions more informed.
What specific benefits does real-time data offer in production?
Real-time data enables an immediate response to bottlenecks and deviations before they escalate. Production managers can see where orders are stuck, how long wait times are, and where processes are deviating—and can intervene in a targeted and proactive manner, rather than reacting after the fact.
What types of companies is PRODUCTTRACKER suitable for?
The solution is designed for manufacturing companies that want to make their material flow, order management, and production planning more transparent and data-driven—from single-part to mass production, in the automotive, mechanical engineering, medical technology, electronics, and other industries.
How quickly can PRODUCTTRACKER be put into production?
Thanks to standardized interfaces (REST API, MQTT, SAP connector) and a low-code logic editor, PRODUCTTRACKER is typically up and running within a few weeks—without downtime and without complex IT projects.
How are movement histories recorded and evaluated?
PRODUCTTRACKER continuously tracks all movements, times, and dwellings based on data from connected tracking technologies and converts them into validated, plausibility-checked histories by verifying the plausibility of real-time data using context from the digital model. The stored historical information can be exported directly to BI tools or used via SAP interfaces—as a basis for continuous improvement, lean analyses, and planning enhancements.