Job Traveler Template for Machine Shops (What Belongs On It)
A job traveler (router) is the document that follows parts through the shop: what the job is, the ops in order, who ran them, and the traceability trail. Every shop's template is a little different, but the failure mode is universal — the traveler is where tribal knowledge goes to get lost, in filing cabinets of 15-year-old setup sheets with handwritten notes.
Here's what a complete traveler carries, whether you print it from software or keep rolling your own.
The template, field by field
Header: job number, part number and revision, customer (and customer part number if different), quantity, due date, and material spec with heat/lot number and cert reference — that lot line is what makes AS9100 traceability work. Body: numbered ops with work center, setup and run time estimates, and sign-off (initials, date, quantity good, quantity scrapped, scrap reason). Footer: inspection steps, outside-process legs with vendor and due-back date, and final C of C reference.
Two upgrades worth making even on paper: a QR code per op (so floor scanning works when you adopt software — and cheap barcode scanners read straight off paper), and a 'last run notes' block that carries setup knowledge forward to the next run instead of leaving it in someone's head.
Where paper travelers break
Paper fails at exactly the moments that matter: the packet goes missing mid-expedite ('spend an hour searching'), the setup photo never gets stapled in, and history is unsearchable — 'which rev did we run last time' means an archaeology dig. Digital travelers that still print (because paper on the floor is fine!) fix retrieval without changing how the floor works.
Traveler generates exactly this template from the quote routing — cloned from the last run on repeats, QR per op, heat lot and certs attached — and prints it on the laser printer you already own.
Want it handled?
Traveler Cloud does this for $109/month — or follow the steps above yourself, free.
See pricingStraight answers
▸Is a traveler required for AS9100?
The standard requires production control and traceability, not a specific document — but in practice the traveler is how machine shops evidence both. Auditors will follow one end-to-end.
▸Should travelers be digital or paper?
Both. Print for the floor (paper survives coolant), digital for retrieval, history, and scanning. The trap is paper-only history that nobody can search.