PhotoTag for Manufacturing
Summary: Streamline your quality control process by categorizing your photos by work order, serial number, damage type, and more.
Developing effective quality control procedures and finding ways to reduce waste in production is important for manufacturers, regardless of the scale of your operations. By implementing robust quality control measures, you can ensure that your products consistently meet or exceed your customers' expectations.
This commitment to quality not only leads to customer satisfaction but also plays a significant role in the long-term success and competitiveness of your manufacturing business. Additionally, by identifying and implementing waste reduction methods in your production processes, you can optimize resource utilization and become more efficient in your operations.
What is quality control and why is it important?
Quality control is an ongoing process and includes specification compliance, a low percentage rate of defects, on-time shipping, undamaged deliveries, and quick customer service. While it’s impossible to completely prevent defects and other problems from occurring, knowing exactly where and when they are happening and how to stop them is key to improving productivity, reducing waste, and reducing costs.
How PhotoTag can help with your quality control process
PhotoTag is an easy, cost-effective photo documentation application that allows you to keep a visual record of the quality of your products. PhotoTag allows you to quickly scan a barcode, such as a work order, and capture images of products or assemblies. You can label and sort photos by barcode numbers, serial numbers, work orders, location, or any other relevant data. Photos are automatically uploaded to the cloud for review and corrective action.
How do I organize my photos?
A brief summary of the PhotoTag mobile app workflow
Step 1: Set up tags and categories
Log in to the app. Click on the Tag setup tab to add the tags and categories you want to be applied to your photos. Categories are used for broad groupings of photos, while tags label your photos in more detail.
Optional: Tag photo with barcode or serial number
If you would like a photo to be associated with a barcode or serial number, select the barcode icon to scan a barcode using your device’s built-in camera.
Step 2: Take a photo
To take a photo, select the Camera tab. The tags and categories you selected in step 1 are automatically linked to your photo and are uploaded to the cloud.
Step 3: Use List View to find images
View the photo in the Photo list tab. Search and filter images using the app or web interface. Search images typing in the search box or by selecting tags, categories, date, or GPS coordinates.
Incoming Quality Control (IQC)
Most manufacturers rely on suppliers for raw materials and components. It’s important to proactively test and examine these raw materials before the manufacturing process even begins to ensure that they meet your quality standards. By conducting an initial inspection, you can classify defects and direct your supplier to address quality issues before production starts, avoiding high rework costs and shipping delays in the process.
As part of your IQC inspection process, use PhotoTag to take photos of the raw materials and components, and add tags documenting any damage or other issues that are present. Adding tags of the order number and customer or supplier may also be helpful.
In-Process Quality Control (IPQC)
Just as you check the quality of your materials and components before you start the manufacturing process, it’s important to also keep a quality record during the manufacturing process. Doing so will help you identify patterns of defects, if there are any, and help you troubleshoot when and where issues are occurring. Use PhotoTag to take photos of your products at different checkpoints, adding tags to include the damage type as well as the number and location of the workstations used to manufacture your products.
Sun Surveillance case study
Read our Sun Surveillance case study to see how they used PhotoTag in the IPQC stage of their quality control process.
Outgoing Quality Control (OQC) and shipping verification
After your products are assembled, inspect their packaging, appearance, workmanship, function, and performance. Examine the condition of the packaging as well as the accuracy of labels, and make sure all accessories are included, if applicable. Use PhotoTag to take photos of the final products, including packaging. When taking photos of outgoing orders to verify condition or quantity, tag the photo with the tracking number, serial number, and/or order number so it can easily be found later.
Sun Surveillance case study
Read our Sun Surveillance case study to see how they used PhotoTag in the OQC stage of their quality control process.
Digitization of paper documents
Paper files are much easier to find if there is a digital record of them. If you haven’t already invested in digital software and filing systems, you can use PhotoTag to help with that transition:
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Take photos of invoices, receipts, purchase orders, or other documents that you want to keep track of.
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Create a category for the type of document and a tag that includes the order number so you can easily find it later.
Having a central repository for these photos can help keep your field personnel on the same page, and enable a faster workflow of delivery acknowledgement and invoicing.
MKB Company case study
Read our MKB Company case study to see how they used PhotoTag to digitize their documents.
PhotoTag 30-Day free trial
Sign up for a free 30-day trial at phototag.app. You can also download our PhotoTag app on the Apple or Google Play store. If you want to learn more about PhotoTag in general, you can visit our main PhotoTag page.
TallyFlow asset tracking software
Taking photos is an important part of keeping a visual record of your products, but it is only part of the quality control process. If your company doesn’t have a way to track your manufacturing processes in real time, our TallyFlow RFID tracking software can help you track materials as they are being manufactured.