Forty years ago or so, document processing was pretty simple. Invoices and statements were printed each day and taken down the elevator to the "stuffer" in the basement. The stuffer was a brainless innovation that took folded documents and stuffed them into envelopes.
We've come a long way since then. Documents are now much more complex and processed over highly sophisticated equipment. But, have we made changes in the way we manage the process? Not really. Materials are still ordered using JIC "the just-in-case method" and stored in places where we can't find them when the forklift driver is gone. On the production floor, weeks worth of materials surround equipment. Production staff members stumble over pallets to retrieve boxes of envelopes and inserts. Inserter operators hand carry trays of mail to strappers. Cut-sheet printers are fed using ream-wrapped copy machine paper. There is little or no productivity reporting, and equipment is deliberately set to run at slow speeds.
Then, in 1996 the GartnerGroup introduced the concept of the automated document factory. The concept an architecture and set of processes to manage the process of creating and delivering high-volume documents using manufacturing techniques is perceived by most people in our industry as a software solution. But no matter how much software we throw at the process, we will continuously come up short if we do not also physically integrate the processing equipment. Conquer the challenge of building a document facility by approaching the task in two parts: physical integration and systems integration.
Physical Integration
Defining the project Assemble a team of coworkers and vendors. Ignore the levels of management. Think of your organization as flat. Managers, supervisors, leads, line workers and vendors all have process knowledge, and it's no secret that the line workers are the people who really know what's going on.
If you're going to do a project, be sure to define the boundaries in which you're working. Typically, the walls around your department or, more frequently, the walls around a group of departments that interact with each other will define the boundaries. Don't make the mistake of zeroing in on a single piece of equipment. Look at how that piece of equipment integrates with the rest of the process.
In his book Reengineering the Corporation, Michael Hammer defines reengineering as "starting over." Isn't that what we really want to do? Do we want to run the risk of simply improving a bad method? Given the opportunity, we should step back and start over. Our objective is to reengineer an ideal process. We can always back down but that's easier than trying to move up from a marginal solution. The way to start is to develop a process flow chart.
Process Flow Chart A process flow chart graphically defines the process using a series of lines and blocks. Start by sitting down with a key person in one of your departments. Draw a block that represents a piece of equipment. Then start asking questions that will define everything that flows to and from the block or piece of equipment. Draw additional blocks for each step in the process until you have defined the entire process from receiving to shipping. Label the lines between the blocks with application names and volumes.
Now comes the fun part. Assemble a project team and start eliminating steps. Improve methods, material flow and information flow. Use volume numbers and figures to justify purchasing new and better equipment.
Connecting the Islands of Automation Your process flow chart will help you visualize your islands of automation. · Now, how do you connect them? You're probably moving the materials around on APCs "borrowed" from the U.S. Postal Service, on pallets and by hand. This does not reflect the vision of an automated document facility. All of these material moves can be accomplished through the use of conveyors and automated guided vehicles (AGV).
Conveyors are used to transport raw materials to the point of use on an as-needed basis to transport finished mail trays from inserters to centralized mail makeup or presorting and to carry empty corrugated cartons to the compactor. AGVs follow a chemically guided path on the floor for transporting raw materials to printing and inserting and transporting printed forms to inserting.
These systems save production floor space, eliminate material handling and improve housekeeping. At the same time, productivity is improved because an operator does not have to leave her equipment to look for materials.
Equipment Layout The equipment layout depends on defined activities, the relationship between activities and an activity's space requirement. Once these are determined, the physical layout can be developed.
Implementation This is where all the mistakes are made. Installers frequently do not realize that equipment layouts come down to inches. They also may not have the big picture in mind and are simply not aware of everything that will be implemented. You should be there personally and be sure to tape the design on the floor. Be prepared to fight for what you know is right. Throughout the physical integration process, keep in mind the cost of planning is cheap compared to the price of doing it wrong.
Systems Integration
A key component of systems integration is inventory management using a warehouse management system (WMS) in combination with ordering material over the Internet or through electronic data interchange (EDI).
WMS relies on the use of barcodes on incoming materials, barcodes on warehouse racks, barcode scanning and radio frequency (RF) transmitters, which are mounted on forklifts. Because of WMS checks and balances, inventory accuracy is virtually 100%. Productivity is improved because the system knows exactly where the materials and empty pallet openings are located. Savings are found in reductions of material handling labor and inventory.
The job-scheduling module interfaces with the equipment, the WMS and human resources modules to determine the availability of resources. Scheduling then becomes completely paperless.
Mainframe software tells the printer what to print and which barcode information is required in order to be read by the finishing equipment. The combined use of print scanners and barcode readers assure print quality and document integrity.
Device monitoring scanners are used to transmit real-time information and also print management reports. These reports tell supervision what is being processed, where it is being processed and the speed of processing.
Everyone talks about productivity but little seems to be done about it. It is common for processing equipment to be operating at one-third or less of capacity or, worse yet, not running at all. Operator efficiency is routinely less than 50%. Some of the problems are a lack of good production standards, poorly designed workplaces and the lack of productivity reporting systems and software.
Logistics covers the preparation and shipping of the document to the customer. Typically, the U.S. Postal Service is the shipper. From your plant, mail can go to the local post office, down the highway to another post office or to the postal facility at the airport. These options involve both your own software as well as postal software. Your best bet is to meet with your USPS account manager to develop the best software and hardware solution.
James E. Bodi, P.E. is president of Bodi Engineering, LLC, an industrial engineering firm that specializes in designing document processing operations. You can contact him at 608-271-0635 or visit www.bodiengineering.com.
