My OperaRecently, while going inside a large ...
Saturday, December 11, 2010 12:28:09 AM
Recently, while going inside a large manufacturing plant, I sow someone (he is a maintenance engineer) taking pictures of equipments using digital camera; and just for curiosity I asked, what is it for?. Being a maintenance engineer, his job is to make sure that equipments inside the plant are in good condition and down-time is minimum. Hence he is asked to taking photographs, before and after repair/maintenance of some major equipment – for reference.
The job involved in the whole process are
1.Create work order
2.Take photograph of failed equipment/machine under maintenance
3.Go to office
4.Copy the photograph from the camera, to a folder on the server
5.Attach the copied photograph to the work-order
6.Complete the maintenance work
7.Take photograph after the repair/maintenance
8.Go to office
9.Copy the photograph from the camera to a folder on the server
10.Attach the copied photograph to the work-order
Something interesting even through it is time-consuming!
I also took few photographs, using my mobile phone and trying to find a solution for him. Basically I was just thinking of eliminating step 3,4,8, and 9
The other issue, I found was that there is lot of delay in taking photographs, attach to work-order, approve the work-order etc. And may a time, even though photograph is crucial, it is not attached to work-order!
We worked-out a plan, and could show him (and his team), how to use his mobile phone to take photographs and attach to work-orders online (by accessing the enterprise EAM system using GSM), from the area of activity (eliminating step 3,4,8 and 9). Also to approve, work-orders,Request reports using SMS and access drillable-reports with graphics/charts quickly – on the go. No new phone purchase, no cameras, no software installed on phones – we used existing users mobile phones (mostly low cost phones with 2.2 inch display).
This kind of agility brought, new avenues for the maintenance team, and now they are adding more services to their low cost alternative to create a more agile plant – all using low cost mobile phones.
The job involved in the whole process are
1.Create work order
2.Take photograph of failed equipment/machine under maintenance
3.Go to office
4.Copy the photograph from the camera, to a folder on the server
5.Attach the copied photograph to the work-order
6.Complete the maintenance work
7.Take photograph after the repair/maintenance
8.Go to office
9.Copy the photograph from the camera to a folder on the server
10.Attach the copied photograph to the work-order
Something interesting even through it is time-consuming!
I also took few photographs, using my mobile phone and trying to find a solution for him. Basically I was just thinking of eliminating step 3,4,8, and 9
The other issue, I found was that there is lot of delay in taking photographs, attach to work-order, approve the work-order etc. And may a time, even though photograph is crucial, it is not attached to work-order!
We worked-out a plan, and could show him (and his team), how to use his mobile phone to take photographs and attach to work-orders online (by accessing the enterprise EAM system using GSM), from the area of activity (eliminating step 3,4,8 and 9). Also to approve, work-orders,Request reports using SMS and access drillable-reports with graphics/charts quickly – on the go. No new phone purchase, no cameras, no software installed on phones – we used existing users mobile phones (mostly low cost phones with 2.2 inch display).
This kind of agility brought, new avenues for the maintenance team, and now they are adding more services to their low cost alternative to create a more agile plant – all using low cost mobile phones.
