Info In Your Pocket

Every technician in every plant must have access to information. That includes machine and system manuals, drawings, wiring diagrams, component specifications, SOPs and more. The access needs to be immediate and it needs to be in their pocket. Over the past 15 years I’ve tried online terminals, HMIs, PDAs, iPods, phones, Kindles, tablets: They all sort of work but none of them have hit the right combination of memory, display, portability and price.

That changed on October 1 when I got my Amazon full featured 7″ tablet priced at $50. ($65 without advertising). It is everything it claims to be. It hits all the sweet spots for a technician tablet.

At this price, loss/damage doesn’t matter much.

Portability is another issue with tablets, but this is small enough to fit into the side pocket of most pants.

Here’s what to do with it:

• Purchase a tablet for everyone in the maintenance department.
• Digitize all manuals etc to the plant server so everyone has immediate access at all times.
• Print QR code labels for every machine. Don’t stop there. As an ongoing project, add QR codes to all major components such as motors, drives, controllers. The technician has only to scan the code to pull up all relevant information.
• Ideally, the technician will be able to enter information regarding machine status and repairs from the tablet to the maintenance record-keeping system. Writing to a system requires greater security than merely reading. If direct access is not possible, a more informal logbook that allows technicians to share information may be helpful.

There is often a conflict between accessibility and control. Paper manuals need to be controlled to prevent being misplaced or damaged. This control, by its nature, restricts accessibility. Your technicians want to do a good job but may not have the information when and where they need it. That leads them to work from memory and experience (which can lead to mistakes).

A tablet in everyone’s pocket solves this conflict between access and control.