Shift Cards

By Wessel Steenkamp, Mr

A short note on shift handover cards so the next operator knows the cutter, material, settings and status at a glance.

Shift handover goes better when the next operator can see the sheet count, bit fitted, zero point used, and parts still to cut. Shift Cards turns that routine into something the whole CNC team can use.

Shift Cards work best when the outgoing operator writes what matters at the spindle, not in a long message later. Note the fitted cutter, board or sheet on the bed, work zero used, and whether the next step is drilling, profiling or final cut-out. Keep setup notes with the job record and send details through the contact form.

Card details at machine handover

• Job number and active sheet count
• Photo of cutter, spoilboard, or first part
• Path name written exactly as loaded
• Operator name as used in the shop

A Shift Card only helps if it matches the tooling in the spindle and the path on screen. The note should sit with the job pack so the cutter spec, material thickness and remaining operations stay together. That matters when one machine finishes nested MDF and the next job changes over to acrylic or aluminium.

How Shift Cards fit our rainbow-coated bit dispatch flow

Shift Cards should give the next operator the job status without a long handover. List the cutter, material, settings, and current stage clearly so the machine can be picked up with less uncertainty.

Begin with the stock being cut and the bit that is actually fitted. Feed, speed, pass depth and hold-down method can change between melamine, MDF, birch ply and aluminium composite, so the card must reflect the current run. In South African shops, load-shedding gaps and late courier collections also make accurate handover notes more useful than memory.

Write the card before the operator leaves the machine, while the offsets and sheet count are still visible. Add any issue that changed the normal setup, such as a chipped tool, vacuum leak, broken tab, or a re-zero after a board swap. That gives the next shift a starting point without guessing what happened on the previous run.

Workshop conditions that affect handover

A useful Shift Card reflects the way many South African CNC shops actually run. One machine may be waiting on OR Tambo freight, another may pause around a power break, and an evening shift may inherit half a stack of board with one tool already near end of life. The note should separate what is finished, what is on hold, and what must not be restarted until the cutter is changed.

Coastal humidity can matter if cutters are stored near open doors or unsealed stock. Fine inland dust builds up around rails, extraction points and collets, which can affect zeroing and tool seating. Where production runs through outages, the card should record whether the machine was re-homed and whether the last sheet was completed or abandoned.

Operated by Astros Marketing (Pty) Ltd from 2 Makro Place, Sunnyrock 1401.