Productivity

• My employees spend most of their time walking around looking for parts, tools, and drawings to do their job.
• My employees spend too much time filling out forms and not enough time turning the wrench.
• My employees are inundated with paperwork that's difficult to understand and interpret so every time they do this job they have to re-learn it.
• Work is so complex that my employees are pigeon holed in very specific tasks which makes them unavailable in other areas when the workload shifts.
• My employees make too many mistakes and spend too much of their time doing rework.

Problem: My employees spend most of their time walking around looking for parts, tools, and drawings to do their job.

In a paper world, information supplied from dozens of different locations. Their formats and method of delivery vary. The employee may have to go to a drawing crib for one document and to a microfiche reader/printer for another. Some are printed by planning and controlled. If these get lost it takes inordinate amount of time to get another set. Paper data doesn't stay current which means your employees may be cutting into an expensive raw material or assembling a complex component with the wrong parts, tools, or methods. That means REWORK.

Solution:

Your direct and indirect employees need direct, single-glass access to the, drawings, instructions, tool, and part data. They don't have time to run around looking for data. Also, the data needs to be current and up to date.

• Solumina delivers all the instructions and related data electronically in one place.
  
• Engineering changes are processed on-line in minutes. Holds are placed on orders being changed so no work can be performed with obsolete instructions.
  
• Schedules are up to the minute.

Results:

Increased Productivity of your direct workforce.

Problem: My employees spend too much time filling out forms and not enough time turning the wrench.

In a paper world or in an environment where systems are disconnected, employees spend much of their time writing down or keying in information that is already known somewhere else. An example is a request for a replacement part. All a mechanic wants to say is bring me qty 1 of part A-034652. Instead the mechanic fills out a form or screen with his employee number, shift, work order number, and operation number, time of day. He then has to, explain what happened to the other part, etc…It gets even worse when a discrepancy needs to be documented. Employees also spend time documenting serial numbers when the person in stores may have just done the same thing in another system.

Solution:

A method of accessing and transposing all necessary information so that the employee can get results with the MINIMUM of information to furnish.

• Solumina automatically fills out all the known information from the employee and work order when a part request, sign-off, discrepancy or serialization is made. Employees can even leave audio notes instead of typing if they want.

Results:

Employees spend their time adding value to the products you build.

Problem: My employees are inundated with paperwork that's difficult to understand and interpret so every time they do this job they have to re-learn it.

Typical complex industry work instructions are thick, unintuitive and frankly, boring. Our studies show 95 percent of employees ignore them. In regulated industries such as aerospace and medical it get even worse because there is a fear of being liable if insufficient information is provided. The instructions (text based mostly) to build a plan usually weigh more than the resulting plane! Tests have shown that 0 percent of employees can accurately assemble a complex component with their existing text instructions if they have not been given hands on training on the part. That's right, 0 percent. The only alternative in a paper world is years of expensive experience on the same job (expensive because experience means that you gave them a chance to make all the mistakes that could be made on that part). The bad news is as soon as that part changes, the experience goes out the window.

Solution:

Employees (and dads at Christmas) need simple, clear graphical instructions to manufacture and maintain complex parts and assemblies. Studies show that employees gravitate towards graphics and animation. Their learning curve is accelerated by 1000 percent when exposed to graphical instructions.

• Solumina provides concise graphical instructions to make even the most daunting process seem simple. Authors can blend images with Picture in Picture video clips or Solid model animations to lay out the complex steps in the process. Data collections and buy-offs can be integrated directly into the images.

Results:

Faster ramp-up times, lower quality costs, increased flexibility of your workforce.

Problem: Work is so complex that my employees are pigeon holed in very specific tasks which makes them unavailable in other areas when the workload shifts.

The pigeon holing that happens with your key employees is not just due to the complexity of the work but because of the difficulty in giving inexperienced personnel worked instructions that can accurately convey the task. The only way to free them from their bonds is to give other employees their hard won knowledge.

Solution:

Simple, intuitive instructions. Instructions that can be enhanced with images, video, and animations if needed.

Results:

Reduction in learning curves for different types of work. Improved personnel utilization and flexibility.

Problem: My employees make too many mistakes and spend too much of their time doing rework.

In a complex environment, our studies have shown that unless an employee is provided very clear and intuitive instructions, they are destined to make each possible mistake related to that task (called opportunities) until he or she has accumulated the experience (experience = sum of all costly mistakes). If tasks are performed often AND the employee doesn't changes places, the mistakes will most likely be remembered and avoided. Unfortunately, in complex industries, product volumes are low and configurations vary constantly. That means some tasks may not get performed more than once a month or sometimes less. That means that even the most experience employee is bound to repeat history (mistakes).

Solution:

The Work Instructions need to be able to QUICKLY convey the sum of your process experience. Continuous improvement of work instructions incorporating knowledge from manufacturing experience. Manufacturing Engineer needs to be able to make work instruction changes at the shop. Corrective Action process triggered from discrepancies/rework tied to future effectiveness verifications at the shop.

Results:

Reduction or elimination of repetitive mistakes and rework.