Sustaining Proper Documentation…

The employees need examples of how the documentation makes their job easier and reduces process shift. If they do not understand how the training helps themselves, they are less likely to document the process changes.

Question: I need advice as to how to better enforce the use of process sheets and track/record any changes made. I am hoping that somebody in the blog an contribute as well.
1) The employees need examples of how the documentation makes their job easier and reduces process shift.
No doc example: Shift 1 gets flash and increases tonnage, shift 2 sees burning and reduces injection speed, shift 3 gets sinks at the end of fill and reduces mold temp, shift 1 then finds large dimensions and decreases packing, shift 2 gets sinks and decreases melt temperature, etc.
Doc example: Shift 1 gets flash and increase tonnage, shift 2 sees burning and cleans the vents and reduces the tonnage a little and the process runs well for the next few days.
2) They also need to know how it helps them identify non-processing problems and bring them to the attention of management. For example, if a mold keeps having burning issues, then they can easily justify the need to invest in venting improvements to the tooling.
3) The employees are never reprimanded for documenting their changes. Employees are trying to do a good job, and when they are attacked for documenting their changes and following procedures, they lose all motivation to document any further changes. (ie. Never let management paw through the logs to determine who made the change last night which causes bad parts)
4) The management needs to reprimand those who do not document changes, including engineers and managers. Ultimately, management needs to back the effort for it to succeed. I had this policy instituted at a company I worked for and was deservedly reprimanded a week later for not documenting my changes during an overnight troubleshooting session.
When we do on-site training we constantly reinforce the benefits and helpfulness of documentation with respect to easing the job of processors and technicians.
All readers are welcome to comment with their experience as well.
-Andy

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