Time tracking in industry
shifts, handovers and zero excuses
Morning, afternoon and night shifts, handovers that never leave the line alone, sandwich breaks and structural overtime during peaks. PIN kiosk, native night shifts and full traceability.
Quick answer: an industrial plant is the most demanding scenario for the working-time record: morning, afternoon and night shifts, handovers that cannot leave the line alone, sandwich breaks that are (or are not) working time depending on the collective agreement, and structural overtime during production peaks. It is also the sector where a good system saves the most money, because every calculation error is multiplied by three shifts and 200 payslips.
The 4 challenges of industrial clock-in
The elasticity of production is legitimate. Undocumented, it is a liability that one day is settled by a works council with access to the record and an overtime inspection campaign.
Three shifts and handovers
The night worker starts at 22:00 and leaves at 6:00 the next day. The system computes working days that cross midnight and squares the handover with no gaps, with night hours identified.
Clocking in without slowing the line
40 people entering at once cannot queue at a terminal. PIN kiosk at each entrance or changing room (any tablet, included in every plan) and mobile app for supervisors. Two seconds per person.
The sandwich break
Does it count or not? It depends on your collective agreement, what it cannot be is ambiguous. The system records breaks with a fixed criterion and the report reflects it the same every day. Ambiguity is what ends up in court.
Structural overtime
Order peaks and the Saturday fourth shift. Automatic calculation with alerts tells you when an operator is approaching the legal limit, before the excess is irreversible.
How Cleverfy works in a factory
A working-time record compliant with art. 34.9, not a line KPI. You do not need a MES or a six-figure workforce management module to comply with the law.
Unlimited kiosks
Tablets at entrances and changing rooms with a PIN, included in every plan. No proprietary hardware or restricted biometrics.
Rotating and night shifts
Working days that cross midnight, a schedule per team and theoretical vs real comparison. The 22:00-6:00 night work is identified on its own.
Configurable breaks
Countable or not according to your collective agreement, applied with a uniform criterion every day. The end of the ambiguous break.
Automatic overtime
Annual count per worker with accumulation alerts. The system warns before the 80 hours, not after.
Official app in ChatGPT
Check your working-time data and clock in from the chat itself, with controlled access. No other Spanish time-tracking tool has it.
Traceability and 4-year history
Every change with author, date and reason: the definitive protection against Tipp-Ex and "Code 9". Reports by plant, line or team ready for the Labour Inspectorate and works council.
Clock-in systems for a plant, compared
Paper sheets per shift
The supervisor fills them in in bulk; the Tipp-Ex ends up in the SUFI case, €15,250
Fingerprint terminal at the entrance
Restricted by the AEPD since 2023; expensive hardware to maintain
Turnstile or access control
Records presence on the plant, not a compliant working day (and is usually security, not HR)
Industrial ERP module
Built for production; the fine labour record (overtime, breaks, employee access) usually falls short
PIN kiosk + app (Cleverfy)
Clock in in 2 seconds per entrance; native night shifts and handovers; full traceability, from €1.20/user
What the record must contain on the plant (and what the Labour Inspectorate looks at)
In industry the Labour Inspectorate usually arrives via two routes: a union complaint (and the works council already has your records, consistency mandatory) or a sector overtime campaign.
Worker identification
Operators, maintenance, quality, internal logistics, by shift
Start and end of the working day
With night days that cross midnight correctly computed
Breaks
Countable or not according to the collective agreement, with a uniform criterion ALWAYS
Overtime
Computed, communicated and within the legal limit (80 h/year)
Night work
Night hours identified (22:00-6:00) for their premium and their limits
Works council access
Representatives have a right to the record, confirmed by the Supreme Court
How to roll out clock-in in a factory in 5 steps
Go through the works council (1 meeting)
With union representation, rolling out the digital record by informing the works council first is not courtesy, it is strategy. The record gives them access to data they already have a right to request; present it as the tool that also serves them, because it does.
Map shifts and breaks (2 hours)
Morning, afternoon, night, handovers, the sandwich break (does it count under your collective agreement?) and the handover overlap. Everything ambiguous today will be conflict tomorrow: set criteria and configure them.
Kiosks at the entrances (1 hour)
One PIN tablet per entrance or changing room, 40 people clock in in 3 minutes. Each tablet is linked by scanning a single-use QR code from the dashboard. Supervisors and maintenance, with the mobile app.
Trial run by shift (1 week)
A pilot shift first (the morning one), incident adjustment and rollout to afternoon and night. The shift supervisor reviews missed entries at the start of the next one.
Routine with the annual limit in sight
A monthly overtime report per worker with the accumulated annual count: when someone approaches the 80 hours, the system warns before the illegal excess. The works council report, automatic.
Packaging plant with 48 operators on 3 shifts
The risk: a packaging plant (48 operators on 3 shifts and 6 support staff) with a 2011 fingerprint clock-in and backup paper sheets. A triple risk: the fingerprint (AEPD criterion), the mismatch of night-shift overtime during peaks (recorded sometimes, paid off the books), and a works council that has already requested the records twice in writing.
The result with Cleverfy: €64.80/month on the annual plan for 54 people. The night-shift overtime surfaces, 340 hours a year concentrated in 8 operators; the pool is legalised (documented compensation according to the collective agreement) and two peaks are covered with a new shift floater. The works council goes from requesting records by registered post to downloading them from the dashboard. The next Labour Inspectorate visit (a sector overtime campaign) ends in an hour.
Frequently asked questions about time tracking in industry
Other sectors
Three shifts, one record, zero Tipp-Ex
14 days free · No card · No lock-in