Carpentry workshops, sawmills, and wood processing companies have an environment that makes most attendance management systems impractical: sawdust, wood residue, varnishes, heavy tools, and hands that are frequently gloved. RFID is the solution that works.

Why other systems fail in this environment

• Fingerprint: sawdust and sanding residue contaminate fingers. Small cuts and calluses are common. Biometric readers frequently reject readings — a queue forms and the shift starts badly.
• Facial recognition: protective gloves, safety glasses, and sometimes a mask. The camera identifies poorly.
• Mobile app: smartphone impractical while working with tools. Sawdust can damage screens.

An RFID reader on the wall at hand height resolves all of this. Tap the card in a quick gesture — with gloves, with sawdust on your hands, without stopping what you are doing. To better understand the technology, read what RFID is and why it works in industrial environments.

What most carpentry workshops need from a time tracking system

Most carpentry workshops and sawmills in Portugal have between 5 and 50 employees. What they need:

• Record who entered and left with an exact timestamp
• Calculate hours worked per month automatically
• Identify absences and late arrivals
• Generate a monthly report for the accountant
• Comply with Portuguese law — 5 years of accessible records for ACT

They do not need a training module, performance reviews, or recruitment.

Where to install the RFID reader

Ideal location:

• At the main entrance in the access corridor
• Height: 90 to 120 cm from the floor (accessible with arm bent at the waist)
• Zone protected from direct sawdust — not inside the saw area
• Near an electrical socket

What to avoid: zones with intense machine vibrations. Locations exposed to varnish splashes. Areas with direct sawdust accumulation that could obstruct the reader.

External workers (on-site installations)

Carpentry workshops with on-site installation teams have employees who leave in the morning and may not return every day. Options:

• Clock out at the workshop in the morning plus clock in at the end of the day
• For days when they do not return: the manager manually records the external work day on the platform

If you have decided to implement it, read how to migrate from paper to a digital system without complications. For a global comparison of systems for industrial SMEs, see best time management systems for production companies.