Manufacturing is the cornerstone of the industrial world, providing materials and/or products for virtually every industry. With advancements in technology and methodology, it is little surprise that manufacturing processes and inspections need the best management systems.
Until recently, the regular paper checklist was the assumed tool for management and inspection of all forms, audit, QA, safety etc. Thanks to mobile devices, manufacturing processes and inspections and management now have much more powerful and easy-to-use tools for efficient and accurate monitoring.
Paperless inspection solutions are the forefront of management and inspection technology. With the help of smartphones and tablets, field personnel are able to record data via the camera, speech-to-text services and regular typing. Further annotation of images/drawings and standardised response formatting means inspectors are able to quickly process information and get to more relevant data instantly. Another benefit of using mobile devices in manufacturing processes and inspection is the versatility they provide. Aside from being used by the majority of the global population already, mobile devices are more adaptable than printed checklists. Industry specific and organisation regulations can be quickly provided ensuring up-to-date adherence with no delays.
All documentation, reference material and previous data can be attached to specific parts of checklists for easy and straightforward access and use. As soon as checklists are complete and the inspection has finished, all data is sent directly to a database for processing and analysis, which becomes available instantaneously. There is no longer a need for large storage facilities of endless paperwork; digital checklists can be stored through cloud-based systems (SaaS) or on in-house PC servers. Management can find accurate, reliable data and use in-depth analysis to gain valuable knowledge about business processes.
