There are many examples of companies who have modernized their shop floor using lean processes and available technology with proven positive results. They have increased quality by up to 30%, increased productivity by up to 27% and reduced costs by millions of dollars annually.

Why, then, don't all manufacturers follow their lead and do the same?

Simply because there is not a universal solution to improve manufacturing. There are companies who claim to have one but they are more like the Wizard of Oz. Manufacturing operations is hard work in a complicated environment with ever-changing issues and needs. The market keeps shifting, customers change their minds in the middle of a production run, engineers constantly flow changes to the shop floor and machines and people are a daily variable.

None of that discourages some from looking for a direction and a solution to improve some of the control and eliminate some of the waste and issues on the shop floor.

How do they differ from you, who may want to pursue improvements in your plant but cannot get traction?

Someone decided to start somewhere and work forward from there. That is, they did not try to solve all the problems at once but chose an improvement area to work on that had little risk and a high reward. That can catapult the improvements into many other areas.

There is a company who decided they needed to go to a paperless shop floor to eliminate the errors and improve productivity. They decided the new digital technology should solve everyone's problems, large and small. They created a document that had more than 1200 requirements. That was 9 years ago and they are still talking about going forward. They still have many errors, low productivity and fewer than 50% of the jobs ship on time.

There are several companies that focused on the top 5 or 10 issues that a paperless system would have to address. They are all paperless now and saving millions each year. Some of those savings are reinvested in added capability to address the lesser issues skipped the first time through. Start somewhere and go from there.

Why is paperless operation a popular project for an improvement program?

• It is green - saves paper, copying and ink.
• It is always more productive - eliminates waiting times and the need to walk around to find information.
• It always improves quality - procedures are enforced such that operations cannot be missed or skipped
• It always saves money - proven to save from 3 to 10 times the system cost in the first 3 years
• It has been stated by manufacturers that it is the "best bang for the buck" in shop floor systems.

Can it work everywhere?

No, there are plants where a paperless operation is not feasible. There are others where it is not economical. Where there is a fit the results are dramatic. It is easy to go through a free assessment to see if your plant is a candidate. You can also participate in a free and easy ROI (Return On Investment) analysis to see what the possible payoff would be.