My technicians are now excited about doing some more advanced process documentation. When should we start?

Today. You don’t have to make a big production about it, just get started with an approach which fits your companies culture.

I have seen three approaches work with great success. 

All-In Approach – In this approach, the company starts using an entirely new machine independent process documentation system. All older process documentation sheets are systematically replaced and removed. This is the fastest way to convert, but is often the most contentious, especially with the more seasoned molders.

Dual Approach – In this approach, the company creates machine independent process documentation which is associated with the mold. Typically, the company uses this approach to allow the technicians to reference both machine dependent and machine independent documentation. This approach is typically the easiest to implement, but the most confusing with respect to which documented process is the actual standard.

Gradual Approach – In this approach, machine independent parameters are gradually added to the process documentation while machine dependent parameters are gradually removed until fully machine-independent documentation becomes commonplace. This is the most common approach I have seen in the industry.

-Andy