Paperless Systems - How to implement most effectively?

[johnnybegood]

Paperless

We used to have hardcopy documents 2 years ago. Then the management approved Doc. Control for going paperless. We benefit from the need to distribute the document, the recall of obsolete document. Save paper, printing cost and storage space. We eliminate the error of Production using older revision doc. We have PC terminal place on the shopfloor but it is very costly to have each PC terminal at each workstation. There are some workstation where the PC terminal is being shared. Since the doc. is available from our intranet system Production can print the hardcopy freely. So there is still an opportunity where Production to use older revision doc. Moreover until today our Production personnel find it very inconvenient of not having the hardcopy especially when a new model or product is being introduced. During this learning curve period, Production prefer to have the doc. on hand. I would appreciate some advised how the paperless initiative can be implemented more effectively.

 

[Russ]

johnnybegood:
In what way do you find your system ineffective? We went digital in June this year and it has been a real boon to our system. Everyone has immediate access to our quality manual, including all procedures and work instructions. I have used the .html format which makes it quick over our intranet and everyone can read it at their station with any web browser. The browsers are set to time stamp any pages printed making them invalid after 24 hours. This keeps me from having to worry about copies printed off. Maybe what your people need are copies of certain work instructions? We have a few of those here, and those are controlled.

Save a tree, go digital!

 

[johnnybegood]

Russ,

One of the main reason for going paperless is to avoid the error of Production using the older doc. revision. We had hard time managing them as Production love to keep those hardcopy to thier convenient. I don't think we can resolve the potential error of using wrong (doc.) version if we continue to maintain hardcopies. Moreover if we start to distribute those hardcopy then I bet we'll end up going hardcopy system again.
Our paperless doc are in Words, Excel and Powerpoint format. We thought of going pdf format but then by doing so we need to keep 2 sets of doc. in the server ie. one in the original format (doc, xls, ppt) and in the other in pdf. With few thousand of doc. server storage will eventually an issue. Some of the doc. especially those blue prints and build aids are updated regularly and we do retain old revision.
BTW do you spell our in the your Procedure that printing of the hardcopy is a violation? Who is responsible if auditors found Production uses a printed doc. after the 24 hrs. validity period? Production may be issue an non-conformance but the whole Factory fail in the audit. We need to be pro-active to ensure 100% compliance in the audit. More advised pls.

 

[David Mullins]

AMEN TO THAT

JBG,

Paperless systems are great in an office environment.

Outside of that people are fooling themselves.

They are money and time consuming to maintain.

People in a shop floor / workshop environment have little (no) interest in following the links from screen to screen, when they used to be able to grab a folder. They continue to work to the system as it was in the hard copy days.

I'm sure there are plenty of blind quality experts who'll swear by paper-less systems (as is evident from previous threads). They're the ones who pull in front of you on the road without looking. They also believe they are fantastic drivers.

Quiz the computer programming experts that set-up and mysteriously continue to support and upgrade paperless systems - you'll find they're not all they're cracked up to be.

Now before you shoot your mouth off about how fantastic your system is in your labour-intensive manufacturing environment, take a minute to survey those users on the bottom rung you don't usually talk to apart from the occassional hello. Don't prejudice the discussion. Ask them straight up, would they prefer a hard copy? Ask them if they print off docs from the electronic system - OF COURSE THEY DO - IT DOESN'T SUIT THEM. Stop them printing them and they won't ever look at it again.


SLIGHTLY OFF SUBJECT - BUT AN EXAMPLE NONE THE LESS:
Went to pick up a new credit card from a bank yesterday.
Took my letter.
Took my 100 points of ID.
They enter everything on the computer system.
THEN, they write it in an old scrappy book and get me to sign it. WHY???

 

[energy]

Re: AMEN TO THAT

Originally posted by David Mullins
JBG,
Now before you shoot your mouth off about how fantastic your system is in your labour-intensive manufacturing environment,

My My, aren't we an irascible fellow? But, I agree with you. Our paperless system is great for those that make their living sitting in front of a computer. It saves on reproducing documents. All the manufacturing documents are hard copies in controlled distribution binders. The worker, not necessarily on the bottom rung (as you put it), does not care for links or spiffy page layouts. Why train a worker who has skills or a specialty to operate a computer? "Get back to work and here are your documents". "And while you're at it, watch that bottom rung. It's a doozy"

 

[johnnybegood]

I am not bragging the paperless system here. I am seeking advised how to make it a better system, how we could resolve some of the issue highlighted.

 

[David Mullins]

OVER-EXCITED

Sorry about the barking.
I've been losing faith in the techno crap for a while, and it continues to get worse!

Software gets bigger but not better - More holes appear and the whole thing leaks like a sieve. Band-width disappears into black holes driven by MS operating systems. Rebooting servers has gone from annual, to monthly, to weekly, to daily, to hourly......

If you want to stop terrorism, sell them Microsoft software and you won't need to contemplate carpet bombing. They'll grind to a halt and surrender!
Hmmm! MS isn't an arm of the CIA is it?




When I write it's like painting a picture - some critics rave, some can, but it's the same picture.

 

[Marc]

> MS isn't an arm of the CIA is it?

The correct word is "tool", not arm.

 

[Greg Mack]

Another perspective

We were happily going down the trail of a paperless system last year through the (miss?) direction of some long-standing members and higher-ups in our team.

We started to publish everything online and were using (still are) a product called HDK that compiles Word files into Help Files.

Anyway, the bottom line is that not everyone is comfortable reading procedures on the screen. Normally, when someone has access to a soft copy system they usually find what they want and print it off anyway! (Take emails for example)

(Sort of like driving with the radio turned up loud and when you get to where you are going, you turn it down because you can't see the numbers on the house!) (That probably doesn't make sense to many )

Anyway, later this year when those higher-ups left the company and the long-standings were retrenched, I made a move from a different perspective. Intsead of trying to go paperless, I looked at reducing the paper.

With that in mind, I went to a Process Mapping type of document that uses a combination of flow-charts and text. This has enabled me to reduce our procedurre manual by 86%! Yes 86%! :thedeal:

The procedures are retained online in A3 style and reduced to A4 for printed hard copies. The A3 can be placed on the wall where required and is so simple to read, understand, train and audit! Each procedure is only 1 page long.

Stuff digital systems!!!! They are great for desk bound PC heads who only think of themselves when developing a system and not "Joe User". Although don't get me wrong, soft copy is still an improtant part of our system, especially for control, just not the only part, and certainly not the major part.

In my experience people need to touch and feel something to ensure continued compliance.

I have changed our direction that is for sure, but also made a simple system that people WANT to read and use. Good luck to those people wanting the soft copy solution to fit everyone's pocket.

 

[energy]

Re: OVER-EXCITED

Originally posted by David Mullins
Sorry about the barking.
When I write it's like painting a picture - some critics rave, some can, but it's the same picture.

David,

I do the same thing! Sometimes I get going and have to retrack some statements and reword them because they appear to be too caustic. Then again, sometimes I just let it fly.) My response to your post was intended to get a chuckle, not crticize. keep em coming