A variety of reports are used in store operations. Typical examples include sales management sheets and accounting slips. Ideally, all reports should be designed to suit the company's business operations, but in reality...
All manufacturing industry maintenance and inspection services, logistics and construction industry business improvement and efficiency
I want to complete it on-site! How to reduce the effort of creating reports
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Are you able to efficiently record work on site?
Manufacturing and construction sites can be said to be sources of value creation, but these sites also face a variety of problems and many challenges.
One particularly big challenge is productivity on-site.
According to a report released by the Japan Productivity Center in 2020, Japan's manufacturing productivity ranks 16th out of 31 OECD member countries.
However, Japan's ranking has dropped year by year, from first place between 1995 and 2000 to ninth place in 2005 and eleventh place in 2010.
The reality is that Japan's productivity has been slower to improve since 1990 compared to other countries.
The following five issues are the main reasons why Japan's productivity is not increasing.
- Shortage of human resources
- Information sharing between departments
- Human error
- Standardization is not progressing
- Streamlining management operations
The labor shortage is a major social issue in Japan, namely the decline in the productive labor force, and there is no quick solution to it. However, other issues can be improved by utilizing digital tools, which have made great strides since 2000.
So, this time we will explain how to improve the efficiency of document creation on-site.
What is a report?
A document is a general term for various documents used in management.
Generally, a slip is the name of a document related to money, but the term "document" also applies to documents other than money. Therefore, it would be fair to call all documents handled by a company a "document."
Documents are essential in business activities. What would happen if business activities were conducted without documents? Everything would have to be done verbally, and management would be in chaos. In addition to monetary transactions, at manufacturing sites, it is necessary to keep production records in documents.
The manufacturing industry does not end with just selling products. If there are defects in the design or manufacturing process, the manufacturer must take responsibility. Even at construction sites, if there is poor construction work, the manufacturer may have to bear large costs for warranty work.
Therefore, it is necessary to record and store evidence that a product has been properly manufactured and installed as documents. Documents are also used to share important management information. In companies with many employees, information to be distributed is communicated in the form of documents.
Purpose of the report
As mentioned earlier, reports are used to share, record, and store important management information.
So, what is the purpose of reports in manufacturing sites?
At manufacturing sites, we also use documents to order parts and materials, and to manage the inventory of materials. We also use documents such as inspection certificates to prove that products have been properly manufactured.
Record management is also important because it serves as proof of what we have created. In order to achieve this purpose, it was common practice to manage records using paper forms.
In the past, paper forms were created and printed out one by one, bound into tube files, and stored on shelves.The tube files were then indexed and stored for easy searching, so that the situation at the time could be checked when necessary.
However, if you continue to manage your documents in this way, you will not be able to improve work efficiency and your productivity will not increase. As industrial products become more sophisticated, the number of documents to be managed may increase, but it will not decrease.
Therefore, electronic forms are becoming more popular in order to improve the efficiency of document management operations.
Benefits of converting paper forms to electronic forms
There are five main benefits to converting paper documents to electronic documents:
Improve efficiency of report creation
When using paper reports, there was some transcription work required when creating them.
This transcription time was surprisingly tricky.
By digitizing forms, you can eliminate the non-value-added task of transcription and prevent mistakes in entry. At manufacturing sites, parts are managed using digital data such as barcodes and QR codes.
If workers were to scan these codes and transcribe them onto paper forms, it would be inefficient and prone to errors.By scanning electronic forms with a dedicated reader, data can be entered accurately and quickly.
When entering forms on-site, you can prevent mistakes by avoiding using pens as much as possible.
For example, if you can create a report by simply selecting items on the screen, you can complete the report creation on the spot.
Reduces management costs
To manage paper documents, a dedicated location such as a storage room is required.
Even if you don't need a storage room, you will need shelves to store your tube files.
If there are only a few documents to manage, the burden may be light, but if the number of tube files increases every year, the management costs will not decrease.
Electronic documents do not require a dedicated space unless there is a special reason.
Can be checked in real time
Electronic documents can be created on-site.
And by using the network, you can send the created reports in real time.
When sending paper documents to remote locations, they can only be sent by mail or fax.
Furthermore, data sent on paper cannot be reused unless it is first re-entered into electronic form. Electronic forms can be sent in real time over the network, and the data can be easily reused.
Enhanced security
Paper forms used on-site, in particular, may be seen by many people. Depending on the information written on the form, some information should not be shown to anyone other than those involved.
With electronic forms, it is possible to strengthen security by restricting access to only dedicated terminals. Also, because the information is digitized, confidentiality can be maintained by granting access rights and passwords, even in the unlikely event that the information is leaked.
Easily search past records
A major advantage of electronic forms is that they are easy to search. With paper forms, you have to search through mountains of files to find what you are looking for, but with electronic forms, you can search easily.
Disadvantages of converting paper forms to electronic forms
From here, let's look at the disadvantages of converting paper documents to electronic documents.
Initial costs are required when installing
A major disadvantage of converting paper forms to electronic forms is the initial cost involved, but this varies greatly depending on the extent to which you digitize.
Changing all forms at once would be very expensive, but if you start by digitizing the main forms or focus on digitizing only the most cost-effective forms, it won't be a big burden.
Electronic data management will be necessary
Data management is required for storing electronic documents, and if you try to manage the data all by yourself, you may need a manager with specialized knowledge.
However, these days, by using cloud services, it is possible to manage data at a high level even with little specialized knowledge.
Changing your familiar paper report format
As a result of the shift to electronic systems, it may be necessary to change the format of familiar paper forms.
In such cases, although it may take some effort, why not take this as an opportunity to review the reports you have been using and improve them to make them even easier to use?
summary
We explained electronic documents as a tool to improve the efficiency of on-site work.
Have you ever thought that electronic forms can only be implemented by large companies? However, when it comes to implementing electronic forms, small and medium-sized enterprises can see results more quickly than large companies.
The larger the company, the greater the scale of implementation, and the greater the initial cost burden. Also, many people will be reluctant to change the forms they have been familiar with for a long time.
The faster a small or medium-sized enterprise can make decisions, the more likely it is that it will achieve efficiency gains, which will lead to cost reductions! Furthermore, by utilizing networks, it will be possible to demonstrate the mobility that is one of the strengths of small and medium-sized enterprises.
First of all, why not try digitizing the documents that are familiar to you?
In particular, the on-site report system "i-Reporter" makes the following possible:
- Save reports electronically and manage them all at once
- Downloadable in Excel
- Alert notification notifies relevant parties of defects
- Reports can be shared in real time
Why not try i-Reporter?
→Click here for the download URL
This is the editorial department of the Field Document Research Institute!
This blog is operated by CIMTOPS Corporation., which develops and sells the field document electronic solution "i-Reporter."
We will be delivering industry information on a regular basis to help those of you working hard to promote digital transformation in the workplace, so please take a look!
