Interested in Interviewing Quality Managers for a Paperless Project

[kadumel]

Hello world -

As a preface I am a software developer/lean practioner who is looking for Quality Managers or other quality-related positions who manage the document system for any quality system. I am looking for people who think that taking their company paperless without spending millions on consultants is more than just a dream.

ISO 9001 - TS 16949 - I am a certified internal auditor, have conducted multiple audits, and am very familiar with this technical standard.

SQF 1000 level 3 Certified Practioner.

I am looking to interview people who actively participate in the development of paper documents in their industry for uses such as SOPs, Work Instructions, Quality Checks, and similar documents that are printed and given to workers.

The problems that generally are presented to the persons I am looking to interview are that paper is hard to manage, slow for tracking purposes, and makes a company environmentally unfriendly. Also, most low-cost manufacturing professionals realize that quality checks and documentation take up the most valuable employees resource - time. We can never get any value add from employees time after it has already been used.

Last, the key benefit to the quality manager or similar person would be that you won't have to worry about document revision levels because you will use a paperless system as your document control system and so no older versions of any documents will be available to the end-user - the employee who does the paperless quality checks on the floor or needs to access standard operating procedures.

For the record - I am not looking or asking anyone to pay money for any product upfront nor asking to pay anyone for their time during interviews. The main purpose of the interview is to identify what issues are consistent across industries to decide if this idea is worth pursuing. At the same time if anyone who participates in interviews at some point decides that having paperless quality control systems is worth paying for I may look at how to make this more than a free tool I am developing and turning the project into a yearly subscription-type service. If I had to throw a dart at a dartboard to establish what sample costs of this system would cost on a yearly basis I would guess that if I had 25 companies that actively participated in the development of such software would pay $899/yr for a completely paperless quality solution I would at least be able to break even.

You can contact me at patrickwalters c21 @ yahoo . com without the spaces
if you are interested in participating in a short 10 minute interview about what you would look for in a solution such as this. I have to use spacing because I am a newb to this forum : )

 

[Wes Bucey]

Have you reviewed existing off-the-shelf software for electronic document management? The idea of "paperless" systems hinges on EVERYBODY in the supply chain - customers, suppliers, regulators (from janitors to CEOs) having access to a computer and knowledge to use it, plus deploying Cloud storage and foolproof security measures (not too difficult or intended users will be discouraged.)

Electronic Document Management is one of my specialties. It's a topic we raise VERY frequently here in the Cove. I first wrote about the topic here in the Cove more than 8 years ago. I got a little clearer about the process a month later. I've also written a number of other posts on this topic through the intervening years.

I'm curious if you've already explored how you intend handling the following:

• Ease of Search & Retrieval (on different fields/characteristics)
• Ensure only the most recent revision is available on standard Search menu (old versions are kept for legal and research reasons, accessible only by authorized folks)
• Automate the procedure of notifying pertinent parties a document is ready for approval, redlining (or review)
• Maintain an audit trail for the status of documents (released or waiting for checking/approval [and by whom])
• Allow “full preview” of documents without opening native programs – i.e. AutoCAD documents can be viewed without latest revision of AutoCAD being resident on user’s computer.
• Permit “group printing” of documents, regardless of native file format. (like it or not, paper WILL be required at some point in the life of many documents)
• Maintain up to 30 security levels on any document, determining whether user has authority to create, modify, redline, view, print, copy, etc.

I'm looking forward to your reply.


Side note - I freely give "generic" advice of general interest to most readers as a post here in the Cove. I am, however, a consultant who reserves specific advice to individuals and organizations which are paid clients. I'm not soliciting you or anyone else as a client with this statement, just alerting you.

 

[kadumel]

Short answer - Yes, to a point. You are correct in that the idea is more ideal for new manufacturing customers who have a budget more open for items such as thin clients or those who already have ability to access a web browser at all levels in the organization. With today's ever-improving software development methods security is impenetrable. Software is now written where even administrators don't have access to override the system or see things such as passwords.

I appreciate your response and would like to point out something - as a consultant you have a pretty narrow idea of the benefits of what I am asking for information about. As an end-user who has read my first post, one may have developed a completely different opinion or idea of the benefit to them. A production floor operator does not see the benefit of having a great documentation control system. They benefit when it is easy to use and only benefit from it one time - when the change is made. After that a process, such as this paperless system, is considered the norm.

As far as the questions you have presented, I would be happy to discuss them with you but in a nutshell the solution that I am developing takes a completely different approach to standard database structures. A Quality Manager who knows what they want may not know exactly what they want. With that being said the system should be structured dynamically and not with tens or hundreds of extra fields to take into account the exact user levels and requirements that are needed as well as storage of documents requiring duplicate storage of any documents that are large. (such as CAD files)

I appreciate your response and hope this explanation gives a more clear picture of the information I seek.

 

[JoeDM]

I recently retiered a director of quality for a wholesale distributor. If you have a list of questions, e-mail to me at joe @ rosehillsystems.com or post them here.

 

[somashekar]

You can contact me at patrickwalters c21 @ yahoo . com without the spaces
if you are interested in participating in a short 10 minute interview about what you would look for in a solution such as this. I have to use spacing because I am a newb to this forum : )

Please note that the OP Mr. Patrick is asking for your consent to be interviewed about the subject. Any of you who are interested can PM Mr. Patrick or e-mail him and take this further.

 

[Jim Wynne]

<snip>
I am looking to interview people who actively participate in the development of paper documents in their industry for uses such as SOPs, Work Instructions, Quality Checks, and similar documents that are printed and given to workers.

The problems that generally are presented to the persons I am looking to interview are that paper is hard to manage, slow for tracking purposes, and makes a company environmentally unfriendly. Also, most low-cost manufacturing professionals realize that quality checks and documentation take up the most valuable employees resource - time. We can never get any value add from employees time after it has already been used.

Last, the key benefit to the quality manager or similar person would be that you won't have to worry about document revision levels because you will use a paperless system as your document control system and so no older versions of any documents will be available to the end-user - the employee who does the paperless quality checks on the floor or needs to access standard operating procedures.<snip>

<snip>
As far as the questions you have presented, I would be happy to discuss them with you but in a nutshell the solution that I am developing takes a completely different approach to standard database structures. A Quality Manager who knows what they want may not know exactly what they want. With that being said the system should be structured dynamically and not with tens or hundreds of extra fields to take into account the exact user levels and requirements that are needed as well as storage of documents requiring duplicate storage of any documents that are large. (such as CAD files)<snip>

I don't have a clear idea of what you're trying to accomplish in interviewing people. There are many different commercial document control systems available, so if you're going to develop a new one with "a completely different approach" it seems that you would want to talk to people who are already using commercial systems in order to establish what would make yours superior. I think most of us know the reasons for moving to electronic document management and the potential pitfalls.

From time to time we have visitors here seeking input and advice from experienced people and often they use something like Survey Monkey to gather it. That might be a good tool for you to use. If you develop a survey and post a link to it here you might get more response than you would in soliciting direct interviews with individuals.

Failing that, it would be a good thing if you could at least give more information--a few sample questions, perhaps--about what it is you're trying to find out.

 

[kadumel]

I don't have a clear idea of what you're trying to accomplish in interviewing people.

To be honest you really don't need to know what I am attempting to accomplish through the interview process. I am looking to understand from a Quality Managers standpoint what they feel would be beneficial to their business. This system would obviously meet requirements of different quality control systems, but I am not asking for specific information such as a survey or questionnaire. I am simply looking to interview people via Skype or similar methods to understand what complications and problems they have in their work. I am not looking to develop a document control system that solely performs document control.

I am not trying to solicit customers, and in fact when I posted this topic last night I did not think I would get any responses at all, it was more of a feeler. Given the fact that I have gotten a few responses I do plan to take your advice and post some generic questions but I hope that everyone understands that I am looking to interview persons to find what could make their job easier (specifically in the going paper-less process)

Sample Questions :

1. What do you feel would make your job easier in going paperless?

2. What are the biggest problems you have seen in going paperless with your Quality Management System?

3. Could you see a benefit from having all of your raw material / technical specs being paperless, as well as items such as training, standard operating procedures, work instructions, and business processes such as fork lift inspection and many others being paperless? Could you rate the list you think of in any particular order?

 

[kadumel]

Please note that the OP Mr. Patrick is asking for your consent to be interviewed about the subject. Any of you who are interested can PM Mr. Patrick or e-mail him and take this further.

That is correct.

 

[Stijloor]

To be honest you really don't need to know what I am attempting to accomplish through the interview process.

Why not? This is an open Forum where ideas are offered and shared. All based on trust and mutual benefit....

 

[Marc]

To be fair, while this is a public forum, as the owner I reserve the right to "filter" what is and isn't allowed in the way of posts here.

Over the years, many people have come here wanting to get people to complete surveys of many different types. Typically they use an online survey and we have been accommodating in allowing a live link to their survey. The people who want others to take their survey have never been "regulars' here, yet we allow them to post asking people to take their survey because we do appreciate that there are people who want to do research.

That said, I have decided to post in this thread because this thread is getting a bit contentious. I was disappointed that you said:

To be honest you really don't need to know what I am attempting to accomplish through the interview process. <snip>

But - Since you essentially did explain what you are trying to accomplish in your first post I am closing this thread. If someone wants to help you they can contact you by the PM (Personal Messaging System) here or by contacting you at the email address in your first post.

I wish you the best of luck in the success of your survey.