What are the pro's and con's of all the time clock choices?

What kind of time clock are people using these days? I've got to put one in, and don't know what all the pro's and con's are of the standard ink stamps with cards, all the way up to the biometric ones, and everything in between.

Opinions?

Personally, I like the RFID type. Just wave your badge in front of the thing. While I don't clock in and out because I'm salary, it's still used to allow access to general stores, tool crib and maintenance stores among other places within the plant.

Tonytn36 said:

Personally, I like the RFID type. Just wave your badge in front of the thing. While I don't clock in and out because I'm salary, it's still used to allow access to general stores, tool crib and maintenance stores among other places within the plant.

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Don't know what RFID stands for, but I've seen plenty of them where you just wave a badge, or slide it through a slot. They sure look handy, but I'm wondering from the point of view of the administrator if there are problems, software glitches, constant maintenance issues, and stuff like that.

Did a bunch of comparisons and reviews about 7-8 years ago. We moved from punch card to digital time clock. Biggest reason for the move was trying to distill out the individual job codes throughout the day. Guys would come in, punch in on a master (day) card, then punch in/out throughout the day on individual 3x5 cards with workorder numbers on them, then punch out end of day on the master card. Keeping weekly payroll hours on the master cards was a breeze, no problem. Problem was all these 3x5 cards with punches all over, different employees, multiple cards per job, etc.

We ended up going with Time Clock Plus. In my opinion I didn't really love any of the choice I saw. Closest other one I looked at had a Q in the name, maybe Q-Tech? The reason I went with Time Clock Plus was how it handled individual job codes. I can have simple 1 tier codes for small jobs, or I can go 3 Tiers deep for more involved jobs. They guys see just a small terminal outside in the shop. Swipe their card, "yes" to clock in, asked what job they're doing, scroll down, select, good to go. When they change codes later they come back up and instead of hitting "Clock In" they hit "Change Cost Code", scroll through, pick code, done. I control what codes are seen from my PC in the office. I de-activate old codes, and put new codes in. I can go back years ago, find a job we did, re-activate it briefly, and get the data.

Although I like Time Clock Plus, I'm not in love with it. It could do somethings better (deeper layers of codes). I haven't upgraded for a couple years, I'm on a legacy version, but it works fine and I've never had a hiccup with it yet. No need to fix what's not broken at this point.

I had an old fashioned time clock. Benifit cheap and simple. Cons every week you will be adding up time cards. I got tired of that and switched to a computer with biometric software and a finger print reader. It made a nice report for each employee no adding required. The problem with that was sometimes it wouldn't work if the employees finger had small cuts, which was a lot of the time with machinists. Now I use E2 ERP software, every employee has a badge and they scan it with a barcode reader. It works great as long as everyone remembers to punch in and out, which seems like a simple task, but gets screwed up by someone at least once a week. Maybe they should make kids punch in and out in school to get em used to the real world.

Dave K said:

Don't know what RFID stands for, but I've seen plenty of them where you just wave a badge, or slide it through a slot. They sure look handy, but I'm wondering from the point of view of the administrator if there are problems, software glitches, constant maintenance issues, and stuff like that.

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RFID = Radio Frequency Identification. Basically, there is a little chip imbedded in the badge. It has a unique code. The reader is basically a higher powered prox switch which powers the chip and transfers the data. No batteries required in the card. Same tech as the tags on items you purchase at a store that have to get "beeped" before you can leave with them. It's mature technology and fairly bulletproof for time clock work.
The software will do the time, reports, etc for you. As a bonus, if you have areas where you want limited access, or want to know who accessed the area, you can buy a magnetic lock which opens via the badge scan and will do reports on who, when, how long, etc.

Thanks Edster. That's the kind of feed back I'm looking for. I would have never thought of the fact that a machinists finger print can get screwed up daily.

Tonytn36 said:

RFID = Radio Frequency Identification. Basically, there is a little chip imbedded in the badge. It has a unique code. The reader is basically a higher powered prox switch which powers the chip and transfers the data. No batteries required in the card. Same tech as the tags on items you purchase at a store that have to get "beeped" before you can leave with them. It's mature technology and fairly bulletproof for time clock work.
The software will do the time, reports, etc for you. As a bonus, if you have areas where you want limited access, or want to know who accessed the area, you can buy a magnetic lock which opens via the badge scan and will do reports on who, when, how long, etc.

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Is that basically the same technology they use in the ones you swipe through a slot? I'm eyeing up this one here...

Pyramid TTEZ Automated Swipe Card Time Clock System by Office Depot

Dave K said:

Is that basically the same technology they use in the ones you swipe through a slot? I'm eyeing up this one here...

Pyramid TTEZ Automated Swipe Card Time Clock System by Office Depot

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No. That one is like a magnetic strip reader like a credit card, but would likely work just fine.

Philabuster said:

No. That one is like a magnetic strip reader like a credit card, but would likely work just fine.

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We use a Pyramid card swipe system, and the associated Time Trax software. It's simple, and it works (4.5 years and counting). We have it linked to the internet to keep the time accurate, an office PC to summarize and track the time records, and it updates several clocks and buzzers throughout the plant. It's easy to set up a warning blast on the buzzers X minutes prior to work starting, then a long buzz to indicate paid time has begun. One caveat is the software is less than sophisticated, and like others have mentioned, you regularly have to manually scan people in or out (in the software) when they forget, or head out to a customer's location mid day etc. With cards, you still run the risk of somebody swiping in their buddy who's running late etc. It's never been an issue for us, but our production manager can see the time clock from his desk.

The biggest driver for us installing this was to coordinate the time clock with clocks throughout the plant, and every employee's cell phone. The buzzers give everybody the same reference for when to start their day, and when coffee breaks / lunch time starts and stops. I thought the guys would resist it, but it was well received.

I bought the system from Joe at employeetimeclocks.com in FL. He recommended a system based on the requirements I presented, and it has done exactly what he said it would.
Hope this helps,
Martin

Thanks Martin. I'm just a two man shop, so I don't even have buzzers for start times and all that. I just want a time clock that will keep a nice log of the hours, maybe keep track of other things such as vacation times too.

As mentioned in other threads I have a slightly rowdy and mutinous group. I used to use the rfid card scanner but people were buddy punching, lost cards all the time, blah blah blah. Standard stuff.

I went with something list this. I forget the model, but with the full hand scan this overcame the problem of cuts on the finger. It paid for itself with a "correction" to my payroll in like the first month and a half.

Ingersoll Rand Schlage Biometric Hand Punch HP1000 RS232 with Break Compliance | eBay

This one appears to be a serial connection to a computer, there are others that are ethernet based and you just add it into your network.

Also no more adding up time cards. The reports are nice and there are some other features based upon models.

Jason

I had a magnetic money clip a while back and had to quit carrying it as the magnets messed with the magnetic strip in cards

All I've dealt with are the ones that use the magnetic strip badges. The software was kind of crappy, but not too bad, it did what it had to do.

The badges did die quite often, especially if kept in somebodies wallet. Or kept on their tool box where it kept getting beaten up.

Down side is that somebody can punch somebody else in. Then again that was an upside when I was just supervising and didn't have access to
the software, if I needed to call somebody in, I'd tell them "I'm punching you in now, get your ass here". Or when you had a guy that had
a criminal summons to go to court because the compressor at the shop was too loud.

Upside to the badge thing, you can double it up and use it to track your guys time, you've got 3 guys and 50 badges.... Nice on a time and
material job, you get a nice print out to show the customer

Probably something that none of you have ever thought about, the time clock is a nice little box, with a battery back up. It can be moved really easy.
First guy in and last guy out, can take it home, take a shower, drink a few beers, and punch out, then get up in the morning, punch in, eat breakfast and
head back to the shop, hang it back on the wall, and plug it back in.

Bobw said:

All I've dealt with are the ones that use the magnetic strip badges. The software was kind of crappy, but not too bad, it did what it had to do.

The badges did die quite often, especially if kept in somebodies wallet. Or kept on their tool box where it kept getting beaten up.

Down side is that somebody can punch somebody else in. Then again that was an upside when I was just supervising and didn't have access to
the software, if I needed to call somebody in, I'd tell them "I'm punching you in now, get your ass here". Or when you had a guy that had
a criminal summons to go to court because the compressor at the shop was too loud.

Upside to the badge thing, you can double it up and use it to track your guys time, you've got 3 guys and 50 badges.... Nice on a time and
material job, you get a nice print out to show the customer

Probably something that none of you have ever thought about, the time clock is a nice little box, with a battery back up. It can be moved really easy.
First guy in and last guy out, can take it home, take a shower, drink a few beers, and punch out, then get up in the morning, punch in, eat breakfast and
head back to the shop, hang it back on the wall, and plug it back in.

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Doesn't sound bad, so, um.....which one is it?

El Mustachio said:

Although I like Time Clock Plus, I'm not in love with it. It could do somethings better (deeper layers of codes). I haven't upgraded for a couple years, I'm on a legacy version, but it works fine and I've never had a hiccup with it yet. No need to fix what's not broken at this point.

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Has it gained the ability for one person to clock in on more than one job? My last job used it, and we had trouble keeping track of time on jobs where a person could run more than one machine.

As for magnetic cards getting beat up - we bought a couple of racks to go beside the card reader. Each card has the employee's name on it. That's where the card lives - period. We have only had one bad card in almost 5 years, but we're a predominantly woodworking environment. The Pyramid time clock we have would be suitable for a three man shop - you don't need to add all the bells and whistles if you don't want them. If I'm not mistaken, the scenario above where the employee takes the time card machine home couldn't happen here as easily because the clock is connected to the office PC by network, and the software reports any break in connectivity to the operator. I'm sure somewhere there's a hacker or computer geek sitting there laughing at how naive I am.
We don't track machine time on the floor using this system, so I can't answer to that.
A time clock won't fix people's behaviour - only good, hands-on managers can do that. The best HR seminar I ever went to can be summed up in the statement - people don't quit a job, they quit their manager.

Martin

Yeah, as far as the buddy punching scenario goes, I'm the first one here and the last one to leave, so I know when people are here and when they're not, so I've got that part covered.
Martin, you have a link to the pyramid clock you are using?

I use an old Acroprint top load mechanical clock. I see they have updated versions of it with all the digital features now. ATR360 / ATR240 Clocks by Acroprint Time Recorder Company

I like the top load because you just shove a card down the slot with one hand, it prints the time and clips the corner of the card so that the next punch will be right above it in order. That prevents punches being made out of order. I ordered mine set to print in military time with .01 hrs. and that makes it a breeze to add the cards up. I can total a half dozen in 10 minutes with a hand calculator while I'm listening to the news on TV. The printed card is nice because I can pull a card out of the rack and see what's happening in a few seconds and it's easy for the guys to remember. I replaced the ribbon once in 20 years.

Dave K said:

Yeah, as far as the buddy punching scenario goes, I'm the first one here and the last one to leave, so I know when people are here and when they're not, so I've got that part covered.
Martin, you have a link to the pyramid clock you are using?

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I think this is the closest current system to what we have:
https://www.pyramidtechnologies.com/Products/TimeTrax_EZ_Serial_USB/

Martin