Most manufacturers recognize the need for good communication and documentation control processes, but many underestimate its importance.  They think that running one shift removes the need, or their employees have a good handle and remember what is needed without a system or process.

While that may be true, it is not only not recommended, it would fail most ISO audits.

Companies use many methods for documenting requirements and communicating between shifts. Some of the most common are:

1. Paper Based Tracking - This requires employees to document all needs, notes, and issues in paper format. While it is very inexpensive to implement, it requires additional processes for document control and is subject to employees forgetting to document or misplacing the documents.

2. Email Communication - Some companies will use internal emails to communicate needs and requirements between shifts and production builds. This creates an electronic record of the needs and notes. However, it is difficult to control and ensure everyone has only the latest information. It also requires users to check their email in order to get the latest updates.

3. Daily Meetings - This is probably the most common method for communicating information between shifts. It allows the exiting shift to update the incoming shift of any issues and important topics for the current job. However, it is subject to human error as they may forget to communicate some of the information. It also fails to document the information for later use. Also, this will not carry daily information into the next day if the company runs only a single shift and requires users to remember important information from day to day and week to week.

4. System Based Tracking - Many ERP systems provide methods for documenting important information for each job. Ideally it would allow users to communicate across departments, jobs, and days.

Companies may decide to use a combination of the above methods depending on the complexity of the assembly and production requirements.

ManEx has several tools to facilitate communication between departments, shifts, and days.

• Related Documentation* - The related documentation button in production is part of the Product Data Management (PDM) module. It allows users to attach numerous files and file types and electronically control documents for a given assembly.  This means production always has the latest information and can easily access it from any terminal.
  
  
• Shop Floor Tracking Notes - Production workers are able to document notes and issues related to all work centers in a job, specific work centers in a job, and specific work centers across all jobs. Notes are flagged to make users aware as they click on affected work orders and work centers.  This ensures they have the latest information and it is not lost between jobs, departments, shifts, and days. 
  
  
• Work/Special Instructions* - In addition to related documentation, users can add work instructions and special instructions for each work center in the routing for every assembly. This ensures the needed information is readily available and current.
  

NE Company loaded all of their documentation into the PDM module* and started utilizing the numerous notes within the shop floor tracking module.

Employees were able to learn and become comfortable with these tools. These practices were carried into the second shift and enabled better communication between shifts. It also enabled production to better communicate with production management and ensure documentation was complete and accurate.

While it is difficult to quantify the benefits from this process change, they have noticed a reduction in production delays and defects as they leveraged the wealth of information well documented within the system.