Shop Floor & Display Board

Workstation terminal for production workers and TV display for shop floor visibility. Navigate with Ctrl+5 (Display Board) or Ctrl+6 (Shop Floor).

Workstation Terminal

The Shop Floor page is a single-job focused workstation terminal designed for shared computers on the production floor. Inspired by Dynamics 365 Production Floor Execution, ProShop ERP, and Epicor Kinetic MES, it provides each worker with a focused view of their current job and a simple workflow for advancing through the pipeline.

Workstation Terminal Screenshot of the Shop Floor workstation terminal showing the active job view with elapsed timer, SLA gauge, and action buttons

Key design principles:

Single-job focus — Shows one job at a time, eliminating distractions and keeping the worker focused on the task at hand
PIN-based login — Workers log in with a numeric PIN on shared terminals, no keyboard or Windows account switching required
Large touch targets — All buttons and interactive elements are sized for reliable touch input, even with gloves
Locked interface — When logged in, navigation is restricted to prevent accidental access to configuration or other pages

Tip Set up a dedicated touchscreen PC at each workstation, open GlyphFex, navigate to Shop Floor (Ctrl+6), and go full-screen (F11). Workers log in with their PIN, pick a job, and start working.

Workers log in to the workstation terminal using a 4–6 digit numeric PIN. This allows multiple workers to share a single computer without switching Windows user accounts.

How it works

The Shop Floor page displays a PIN entry screen with a numeric keypad
The worker enters their PIN (4–6 digits)
GlyphFex identifies the worker and loads their assigned stages and active job
The worker is now logged in and can pick or continue a job

Setting up PINs

PINs are configured by an administrator in Tools > Manage Workers. Select a worker, click Edit, and enter a PIN in the Workstation PIN field. See PIN Login Security for more details.

Note If the current Windows username matches a configured worker, GlyphFex can auto-identify the worker without requiring PIN entry. This is useful for dedicated workstations assigned to a single person.

Active Job View

Once logged in, the workstation terminal shows the worker's current active job with large, easy-to-read information:

Reference number — Displayed prominently at the top
Stage badge — The current pipeline stage, color-coded to match the pipeline configuration
Priority indicator — Visual priority level (Rush, High, Normal, Low)
Elapsed timer — A large 36pt timer showing how long the worker has been on the current job, updated every second
SLA gauge — A visual indicator showing how the job is tracking against its SLA target for the current stage
Meta chips — Customer name, PO number, due date, and material status displayed as compact information chips
Pipeline progress bar — Shows how far the entry has progressed through its pipeline, with the current stage highlighted

Tab System

Below the active job header, a tab bar provides access to different aspects of the current entry without leaving the workstation terminal:

Tab	Contents
Details	Key fields, custom fields, and tags for the current job. Read-only view of the entry's specification data.
Notes	Add timestamped notes that are appended to the entry's comments field. Useful for logging observations, issues, or shift handoff information without opening the full entry form.
Documents	List of file attachments associated with the entry. Click any attachment to open it in the default application (e.g., a PDF drawing opens in the PDF viewer).
Quality	Report defects or NCR (Non-Conformance Report) issues with severity classification. Allows workers to flag quality problems directly from the workstation.
History	Stage transitions timeline showing when the entry moved through each pipeline stage and who advanced it.

Actions

The workstation terminal provides a focused set of action buttons along the bottom of the screen:

Pause / Resume — Pause the elapsed timer when stepping away from the job temporarily. Resume when returning. Paused time is not counted against the job duration.
Flag Quality Issue — Opens the Quality tab and starts a defect report. The entry is flagged for supervisor review.
Break — Log a break (lunch, meeting, cleanup, or other indirect activity). The break is recorded in the entry's comments with a timestamp, and the elapsed timer is paused automatically.
Done — Advance the entry to the next pipeline stage. After tapping Done, an undo option appears briefly in case of accidental taps. The job is removed from the worker's queue and the Pick Job screen appears for the next job.

Tip The Done button is the primary workflow action. Train workers to tap Done as soon as they finish their stage of work. This keeps the pipeline moving and gives supervisors accurate visibility into job progress.

Job Queue

When no job is active (or after completing a job), the workstation terminal shows a Pick Job button. Tapping it opens a job picker that lists all available entries at the worker's assigned stages, sorted by priority and due date.

The most urgent jobs appear at the top of the list. The worker selects a job, and it becomes their active job with the elapsed timer starting automatically.

Lock Screen

When a worker is logged in to the workstation terminal, the interface is locked down to prevent accidental navigation:

Sidebar navigation — Disabled. Workers cannot navigate to Dashboard, Analytics, or other pages.
Keyboard shortcuts — Blocked. Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+7 and other navigation shortcuts are intercepted.
Command Palette — Restricted to Shop Floor and Display Board commands only.

To release the lock, the worker uses the Switch User button (returns to the PIN login screen) or the Lock Screen button (shows a locked screen that requires PIN re-entry).

Note The lock screen prevents workers from accidentally changing project settings or navigating away from the workstation view. It does not prevent an administrator from using the same machine — the admin can close and reopen GlyphFex to bypass the lock.

Indirect Activities

Not all time on the shop floor is spent on jobs. The workstation terminal supports logging indirect activities such as:

Break — Lunch, rest breaks
Meeting — Stand-ups, safety meetings, training sessions
Cleanup — Workstation cleanup, end-of-shift housekeeping

Indirect activities are logged to the worker's timesheet with timestamps, providing a complete picture of how shop floor time is spent.

Display Board

The Display Board (Ctrl+5) is designed to run on a wall-mounted TV or large monitor on the production floor. It provides a hands-free, auto-rotating overview of your shop's status that everyone can see at a glance.

Display Board Kanban Screenshot of the Display Board in Kanban view showing dark theme columns with entry cards per stage

Design

The Display Board uses a dark theme optimized for readability at a distance on large screens. Text is larger than on other pages, and high-contrast colors ensure visibility even in bright shop floor lighting.

Three Rotating Views

The Display Board automatically cycles through three views, spending 15 seconds on each:

1. Kanban Board

A column-per-stage layout showing entry cards organized by pipeline stage. Each column is capped at 20 cards to maintain readability. The 5 most recently completed entries are shown in the completed column, so the team can see what just finished.

2. KPI Dashboard

Large metric cards showing key numbers: total active entries, entries due today, overdue count, SLA compliance, and other summary statistics. A pipeline bar along the bottom shows the distribution of entries across stages.

3. Alerts & Deadlines

Three columns highlighting entries that need attention:

Overdue — Entries past their due date, sorted by urgency
Due Today — Entries due today that have not yet reached a completed stage
Due This Week — Upcoming entries due within the next 7 days

Controls

Although the Display Board is designed for hands-free operation, it includes a minimal set of controls:

Auto-rotate toggle — Turn automatic view cycling on or off. When off, the board stays on the current view.
Previous / Next — Manually switch between the three views
Live clock — Current time displayed in the header, matching the system locale

Tip Set up a dedicated PC connected to a wall-mounted TV in your shop. Open GlyphFex, navigate to the Display Board with Ctrl+5, and press F11 for full-screen mode. The auto-rotating views give everyone on the floor real-time visibility without anyone needing to touch the computer.

Note For team (SQL Server) mode, the Display Board is ideal because it shows live data from the shared database. Any status changes made by workers on Shop Floor kiosks or by office staff on the Dashboard are reflected on the Display Board within seconds.

Display Board Refresh

The Display Board automatically refreshes its data every 15 seconds to keep the information current. This refresh interval applies in both SQLite (solo) and SQL Server (team) modes.

The refresh happens silently in the background — the display does not flicker or reset the rotation cycle. If data changes between refreshes (e.g., a worker advances a job), the change appears on the next refresh cycle.

Tip The 15-second refresh interval is a good balance between data freshness and performance. In a busy shop with multiple workers updating entries simultaneously, the Display Board stays within 15 seconds of real-time — close enough for everyone to trust what they see on the screen.