We are in the middle of thinking about our working methods and I would like to have some outside opinions ;-)
How do you manage your "business rules" within the design office (or methods office)?
We all need to rely on an internal knowledge base to design our products. I want to talk about the tons of useful little information that helps us on a daily basis.
Like what: the dimensional capabilities of the machines, machine tolerances, how to calculate the flexural/torsional strength of a profile, what is the drilling diameter of a sheet metal to crimp an insert, How to add a macro button in SolidWorks, useful links to download off-the-shelf standard components, etc, etc, etc...
► Do you rely on each other's knowledge, transmitted orally?
► Have you scattered Excel, Word files, etc. Who lists your business rules?
► Have you managed to centralize everything in a database where everyone goes and finds the right information?
We have server partitions dedicated to the different departments: commercial, technical, health and safety and in all this we have a Solidworks folder with our basemaps, library of components. Then we have files with like you with the features machines ect. All our files are common so that everyone works on the same basis and above all that everyone has access to the same data. Before everyone had their little file with their information and secrets. it was a bit of a mess...
It depends on the size of the structure (VPE/PE/ME/GE), the time available to manage the thing, the acceptance by people of this centralization and the dissemination of small secrets (with the loss of the feeling of power that it gave to hold the information), the type of activity (mono product / subcontracting).
In our case, we exclusively subcontract studies and we are a small team of about 10 people: the information circulates naturally and we try to keep it accessible: so a directory (which is a bit loose) dedicated. Everyone still has their own personal space because they prefer to use this or that document (knowing that the result is the same). The team is quite young at heart and we rely more and more on the internet (it allows us to have up-to-date information) which allows us to easily find most of the necessary information.
On our side, as we are also under EPDM, we have a space dedicated to all our SolidWorks models such as our models of parts, assemblies, basemaps, our notes, blocks, favorites, macros, functions, etc... as well as our component library.
But for our reference documents, our business rules, for the black and white of our know-how in a way, we still have a lot of work to do to centralize the information. Indeed, as with you, some rare documents are rather well stored on our network, but many people still have their little "secret" files here and there locally on their workstations, or even simply "in mind"...!
I really wonder what is the best solution to centralize all the technical information of the entire company that we need on a daily basis...
As far as the acceptance of losing one's "power" is concerned, I think it is outdated. It makes no sense and is rather counterproductive, regardless of the size of the company.
What is more difficult, however, is to make use of this data, which is made available to everyone (habits die hard and it all depends on the age of the captain).
To answer the subject, we therefore have rules from our internal procedures (quality system) and widely distributed documents for the application of internal rules for the realization of certain plans according to the implementation technologies.
For example, when it comes to the dimensions of a hole for a crimped element, we have made available favorites in Solidworks for drilling assistance. Many things are possible via Solidworks/EPDM, but users must be willing to use them.
Indeed, I sincerely believe that today information of this type should be widely shared and not kept personally by one or the other. At least that's what we're told when we hear about the company of the future, and it goes against performance. ;-)
It takes the will of everyone to put in place common rules, but it must be possible without great difficulty.
We also have a lot of documents to refer to, but they are scattered all over the place:
- locally on user workstations (not good!),
- in our EPDM safe,
- on our Intranet,
- in the memory of the ancients (dematerialization?) ;-)
- in our network tree classified by services (Quality, Methods, BE, etc.).
What is often blocking is that even if a person finds the right info in the right file, he is never sure that this info is up to date without a property that indicates that this file is validated regularly... So we are suspicious, or even we don't use the information, too bad.
Physically gathering everything in a single place seems complicated to me, but creating a single tool where everyone has to go without asking themselves questions to find the information they are looking for is achievable. A tool with an advanced search function and whose search results are links to the source files. In short, a database in fact...
I wouldn't like to develop a specific tool because it requires maintenance over time. I'm going to dig into Moovapps TechCenter ;-)
Indeed the database is THE solution, THE problem is the choice of keywords. The application shouldn't need much maintenance (it's just indexing), the content on the other hand yes, the problem will be to define who updates it, at what pace, on what basis (see Wikipedia's problems on article validation).
On our side, it's a mix of elements on our corporate network (not always organized to small oignions), and a mix of "oral tradition of information".
However, with one of my colleagues, we were commissioned to define drawing procedures (which were not clearly defined either) and we also have in mind to clarify these different data which are clearly unmanageable for a new hire.
It reassures me, I see that the problem is a bit the same for everyone ;-)
I also have this mission, which seems simple, but not easy to implement.
We also think of the new recruits who flounder for a while before having the right reflexes. Even with 20 years of seniority I don't always find my way around, I find that it's a major problem in a company of more than 250 people.
Like many others, I was confronted with this problem when I arrived in my new company: files scattered on the network, rules more or less defined, more or less known...
To put things in order, we've since created a OneNote folder, which allows us to gather and organize all this information into sections and pages. It is possible in OneNote to make the link on the file, or to insert a "printout" of the file to display it directly, or also to directly create text, tables, diagrams and anything else you want!
The OneNote file is shared, everyone can access it, modify it, add their info, personal tips, etc...
This suits us well, but perhaps at 250 people we should restrict the authorizations a little;)
Your problem is both simple and very complex to implement and above all to maintain.
From my extensive experience in the reorganization of companies and processes, it is necessary to make a precise analysis of all the parameters and who has access to what and why.
Then proceed to identify all processes (technical, administrative, and inputs and outputs)
Once this in-depth analysis has been detailed and once the possible tools have been identified for all this to work and above all to be sustainable, you need a data manager (also sometimes called a cognitive scientist). He will also be in charge of classifying active, memorial, obsolete and totally obsolete information.
In the conclusions of the first phase of the study, it is also necessary to identify the cost and the VA of this control of material and intangible information.
In short, a very big job!
Here's a very good indication of the current state and the predisposition of the management to control its information and well, you have to look at what they really do on quality on a daily basis (if they are certified). This is very revealing of the excellence or symptoms of data management.
I'm in favor of the rules of the profession in general but not too much for the procedures because I find that it kills creativity and the search to do better given that you have to do it as written.
I come back to this question to solve it thanks to the answer of s.deschamps-berger who put me on the way to the OneNote solution that everyone has with the Microsoft Office Pro suite.
After experimentation and presentation in the main departments concerned of our company, we adopted it because it turns out that OneNote is rather easy to use and really effective in enriching, sharing, classifying, sorting, searching for the information we have to share with each other on a daily basis.
Thank you again for your respective participation in this discussion!
