Companies that use lean processes, including paperless manufacturing, to modernize their shop floor have increased quality by 30%, increased productivity by 27%, and reduced costs by millions of dollars annually. In fact, it takes just a single person to identify a manufacturing improvement, document the benefits and prove the case. It can happen in operations, manufacturing or on the production floor.

Why, then, don't all manufacturers seek the same change?

There is no universal solution to improve manufacturing. Manufacturing operations is hard work. It's a complicated, ever-changing environment. The market shifts constantly, customers request order changes during production runs, engineers revise processes affecting current manufacturing and machines and people are daily variables. These reasons are exactly why paperless solutions, that allow changes on the fly and the capture of real-time data, has an even greater impact than other, traditional lean processes.

How do you start?

Choose an area with little risk and a high reward; avoid the trap of trying to solve all problems for all people. Success in one area can catapult the improvements into many others (devising a single solution for the entire manufacturing process may never get off the drawing board).

Try, for instance, to introduce paperless manufacturing in the first-run area of operations. Here, work traditionally stops and starts often, as the manufacturing build processes are checked against plans and tolerances of the final product undergo rigorous testing. Prove out of ideas here may smooth the process for the first-run area and give valuable data for implementation in other areas.

Use common benefits to sell the program to executive management.

· It is green. Paperless manufacturing saves paper and ink.

· It is always more productive. Paperless manufacturing instantly provides the right information.

· It always improves quality. Paperless manufacturing ensures that all manufacturing processes are followed.

· It always saves money. Paperless manufacturing speeds the process and reduces errors.

What won't work?

One company we visited had manufacturing errors, waning productivity and shipped fewer than 50% of their jobs on time. They wanted a paperless shop floor to eliminate errors and improve productivity. Digital technology was the master solution; they captured over 1,150 requirements from all areas of their planning and production. That was 9 years ago, and they are still talking about to get a cost-effective system to meet their needs.

What results are possible?

Focus on the top 5 or 10 core issues in your plant that a paperless system could improve. Where there is a fit, the results are dramatic. It is easy to go through a complimentary assessment to see if your plant is a good candidate for paperless operation. You can also participate in an easy, one hour, ROI (Return On Investment) analysis to see what the possible economic payoff in your plant would be.