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TimeTracking

Time tracking for manufacturing and factory shifts

In a factory, the hours themselves are rarely the problem. The problem is what they are worth: an early, late or night shift, a Saturday, an hour of overtime after a breakdown, a temp worker on the same line as your own staff. TimeTracking clocks the shift at the gate and applies your allowance and overtime rules, so payroll receives hours that are already calculated.

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Animated demo: in a three-shift rotation, an operator clocks in at the factory gate kiosk for the night shift, works past midnight, stays 30 minutes longer, and the shift is split into night-band hours and overtime. Clock in at the gate, Through the night, Runs over, Split per hour type.

How factories use TimeTracking

  1. Plan the shift rotation

    Build your 2- or 3-shift pattern once with shift templates and recurring rotations, and publish it to every team.

  2. Clock in at the gate

    Operators clock in and out at a kiosk tablet at the entrance with a personal 6-digit PIN. No phones needed on the floor.

  3. Rules do the calculation

    The rule engine splits each shift into allowance bands, adds overtime where the shift ran longer and flags breaks and rest times.

  4. Approve and export

    Shift leaders approve their team's week. Hours per hour type go to payroll and are locked after export.

Built around the shift rotation

Two-shift and three-shift systems repeat in fixed rotations: a week of early shifts, a week of late shifts, a week of nights. In TimeTracking you capture that rotation once with shift templates and recurring patterns, and the planner only handles the exceptions: sickness, leave, a machine that needs an extra crew.

The night shift that starts at 22:00 and ends at 06:00 is one shift, not two half days. Rest-time rules are checked against the roster, so a planner sees a warning before moving someone from a late shift straight into an early one.

  • Shift templates for early, late and night
  • Recurring rotations per team
  • Night shifts across midnight as one shift
  • Rest-time warnings before publishing

A kiosk at the gate

Many production floors do not allow phones, and not every operator wants a work app on their own phone. A tablet kiosk at the staff entrance lets everyone clock in and out with a personal 6-digit PIN, in their own language. The kiosk can be limited to one site, so every clock-in carries the right location.

After 5 wrong PINs the tablet locks for 15 minutes, which discourages buddy punching. The kiosk takes no photos and uses no face recognition, which keeps it acceptable for the works council. The break is deducted automatically at clock-out according to Dutch rules.

Shift allowances and overtime by rule

Shift allowances are where manual calculation goes wrong. The rule engine splits every worked shift into the bands you configure, for example evening, night, Saturday and Sunday or public holiday, and records the hours per band. Public holidays for the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium are built in.

Overtime follows the same approach. When a shift runs longer than planned, the extra time is recorded as overtime at the percentage you set, and each hour type maps to its own payroll code in the export. Payroll gets the bands and overtime already separated instead of a total it has to unpick.

  • Allowance bands by time of day and day of week
  • Public holidays for NL, DE and BE
  • Overtime at configurable percentages
  • Each hour type mapped to a payroll code

Temp workers on the same line

Most factories combine their own staff with workers from one or more staffing agencies. In TimeTracking, temp workers clock in at the same kiosk with their own PIN and appear in the same roster, so the shift leader sees the whole crew. Apps and kiosk are available in 20 languages, and each worker chooses their own.

After approval you can export the approved hours of agency workers and send them to the agency, so its invoice can be checked against what was actually clocked. If the agency itself works with TimeTracking, it can send you the week for approval through a secure magic link, without an account.

Planned versus worked per team

Once hours come in, every shift shows planned and worked time side by side. Late starts, early finishes and structural overtime become visible per person, team and week, which helps production managers see where a line is understaffed before it shows up in the overtime bill.

Leave and sick leave live in the same system, so the planner sees absences while building next week's rotation.

Payroll exports and privacy

Approved periods go to payroll in one step: an SD Worx-format export, configurable CSV, XLSX and XML exports and the REST API are live today. Connectors for Loket, Nmbrs and AFAS are coming soon. Exported periods are locked, and corrections are booked in the next period.

TimeTracking records working time and nothing else: no screenshots, no keystroke monitoring and no continuous location tracking. It is not an MES or production registration system; it handles the hours your people are paid for.

Frequently asked questions

Does TimeTracking support 3-shift rotations?

Yes. Early, late and night shifts are set up as templates and repeated as recurring rotations per team. Night shifts across midnight count as one shift.

Can shift allowances be calculated automatically?

Yes. The rule engine splits each shift into the allowance bands you configure, including public holidays for NL, DE and BE, and exports each band with its own payroll code.

Can operators clock in without a phone?

Yes. A kiosk tablet at the gate lets them clock in and out with a personal 6-digit PIN. The kiosk needs a stable internet connection.

Does the kiosk use photos or face recognition?

No. Workers identify with a personal PIN only. After 5 wrong attempts the tablet locks for 15 minutes.

Can we track temp workers alongside our own staff?

Yes. Temp workers use the same kiosk and roster. Their approved hours can be exported and shared with the staffing agency.

What does it cost?

Free for up to 5 users, then €1 per user per month on Core, including rosters, the kiosk, approvals and payroll exports. No add-ons and no seat minimum.

Related pages

Try TimeTracking free

Free for up to 5 users. Core from €1 per user per month, everything included.

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