The packet that walks with the part

Why shops still use paper

Screens do not clip to a tote. A traveler does. When a job leaves the mill and sits on a cart overnight, the next person should not have to open a laptop to learn the rev, the qty, or whether inspection is waiting. The packet is the memory of the job.

Job Traveler does not replace your ERP or your quality manual. It prints a clean traveler from a form or a CSV so a two-person shop is not rebuilding the same Word table every Monday.

Fields that actually matter

Job name and job number

The name is for humans. The number is for the folder, the invoice, and the scrap tag. Put both on the header so neither gets lost in a rewrite.

Part number and revision

A traveler without a rev is how last month’s print gets built. If the customer changed a hole and you did not change the sheet, that is on the packet, not the mill.

Quantity

Lot size, not a wish. If you split the lot, write it down. Do not make the inspector guess how many pieces should be in the tote.

Customer or internal

Internal R&D lots get treated like customer work once they leave the bench. Mark the type so nobody ships a prototype as a deliverable.

Operations: step, name, work center

Step numbers (10, 20, 30) leave room to insert a rework op. The work center is the station or machine, not a paragraph. If two people could argue about where the job goes next, the traveler is not finished.

Spec / tolerance

The number the station is responsible for, not the entire print. “Per print” is allowed. A starred dimension belongs on the line that creates it.

Inspection required

Y means the job does not leave that step unsigned. N means the operator signs and moves. If everything is Y, you do not have a route — you have a traffic jam.

Notes

The one sentence the last person wished they had written: leave stock, heat number, do not chase a tight hole. Keep it short enough to read standing up.

Sign-off lines

Operator, inspector, supervisor is a sane default. Add a customer source-inspect line if that is how you actually close a job. Empty signature blocks are how “we thought someone else signed” starts.

How the job moves

1. Stock issues material and stamps the heat or lot on the traveler.
2. Each operation is done at the named station. The operator signs and dates.
3. If inspection is Y, the job sits until inspection signs. No “we will catch it at final.”
4. Close-out signatures finish the packet. The sheet is filed with the job, not thrown in the chip barrel.

Common ways a traveler fails

• No revision in the header.
• Inspection holds missing on the ops that actually need them.
• Work center left blank, so the job becomes a scavenger hunt.
• Materials called out in someone’s head, not on the sheet.
• Pretty software that will not print readable on a shop laser.