Software to Write and Control Work Instructions?

Hello,

I am interested in seeing what software people are using to create, control, electronically approve, etc... work instruction for both machining/manufacturing and assembling parts. We are an ISO/TS 16949 company. Ideally so that operators in the shop can view the "WI" on a computer in the shop, hopefully someday eliminating paper.

Currently we create them using MS Word and keep a "master list" via Excel. The creation and management of this system is time consuming and mediocre. Furthermore each manufacturing engineer in the company seems to come up with their own "WI" format, which can become confusing for people on the shop floor especially while we are trying to keep a flexible workforce.

So far the software(s) that I have found seem to be geared toward assembly. We both manufacture (machine, laser cut, punch, press break, weld, powder coat, etc..), and assemble the items we sell.

I don't have anything to recommend off hand, but I have worked with a lot of different software over the years. One of the aspects you should consider is whether or not you are going to want pictures embedded in documents. Some software can easily handle it with other software fails miserably (if able to do it at all).

Be bold, try Microsoft Word. It'll give you all kinds of flexibility.

We have used MS Word for WI's with verbage and photos only and MS Excel for Flow Chart WI's. We also store these docs along with records, forms, Quality Manual, dbases, etc. on free version MS Sharepoint where we can control who can read, write, and contribute to documents. Sharepoint also works as our masterlist.

HTH,
Matt

Edwardsk said:

I am interested in seeing what software people are using to create, control, electronically approve, etc... work instruction for both machining/manufacturing and assembling parts.

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We are using ProjectForum wiki software. A wiki is an editable website, where you can have as many web pages as you like, and pages can link to each other easily.

Changes and version control are automatic. All changes and their author's are logged and saved. Then they can be listed, compared, or rolled back very easily. If a document's title changes, all referring documents are updated automatically.

Edwardsk said:

Ideally so that operators in the shop can view the "WI" on a computer in the shop, hopefully someday eliminating paper.

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We are doing exactly what you suggest. Operators in the shop can have their docs available right at points of use, both for consulting and for improvement.

Edwardsk said:

Currently we create them using MS Word and keep a "master list" via Excel. The creation and management of this system is time consuming and mediocre.

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A wiki makes this work automatic. Check this article, which compares a wiki with Office software: What is the point of a wiki?.

Edwardsk said:

Furthermore each manufacturing engineer in the company seems to come up with their own "WI" format, which can become confusing for people on the shop floor especially while we are trying to keep a flexible workforce.

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With Projectforum (and most other wiki engines) you can create document templates for new pages. We have templates for SOPs, WIs, policies, and a few others. Users start with a template and fill in the blanks. All your pages look similar. But the best part is that users of documents can edit them easily, so problems (with formatting or content) get corrected quickly.

For much more info on wikis check out this thread and the links therein: Using a Wiki to Implement a QMS.

Good luck!
Pancho

Here's my :

- I use MS Word as the main document processor. Often I merged flow charts from Visio if the embeded charting tool was not enough. Occasionally I also merged tables from Excel, specially when more extensive calculations were involved. I even went to the extent of using MS Word to create a web-like internal document navigation site. I also use Publisher to create flyers and/or hand-outs, like the Quality Manual.

- I use Adobe Acrobat or similar PDF makers to publish the documents and prevent unintended changes (control) at the same time; lets me combine multiple documents if needed, reduces file size, can be linked to intranet websites, etc.

- I do not encourage using Excell for any documents because it is not a program designed for document editing; therefore formating and manipulation of documents is much more cumbersome than Word. Some people swear by Excell for document creation but it does not cut it for me personally.

- OpenOffice is a good alternate for MS Office and you can easily go back and forth between the two suites.

- There are software packages desinged to manage documents but they are not cheap. The size of your organization and its needs for document management should help justify or invalidate the investment in such software. Some packages are Lotus Notes based, others are stand alone. Research and find some options (if this is the way to go) and ask us again about those in particular.

DrM2u said:

- There are software packages desinged to manage documents but they are not cheap.

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Oh, yeah, thanks for reminding me. Wikis are relatively inexpensive. Some are even open-source (free). I've looked into and like: Twiki, Confluence, Projectforum, EditMe.

(Disclaimer - I'm not affiliated with any of them.)

While functionally specific work instruction software packages may have a cost associated with them, the question that every company must ask and answer is what is the ROI on implementing such a system. Many of these functionally specific systems are now capable of integrating with other business systems (ERP, PLM, MES) which creates a flow of information between different parts of the business that simply wasn't there before. Additionally, many of them deal with the most-time consuming issues of formatting the information for manufacturing addressing both time utilization by engineering and the consistent formatting issue that is brought up in the original post. If you look at the gains in operational efficiency, productivity gains in engineering, decreased training times associated with enforced formatting and styles, etc. you may just find that the "cost" is not as high as you think. It isn't the cost of the system but the value of the system.