TOOLROOM PROCEDURES

[wolfyman]

I need help with writing toolroom procedures. Toolroom manager in an injection molding facility. I'm trying to write procedures for tagging a damaged mold, to work being completed, and a procedure stating the completion of the repair to the appropiate personel.

 

[jbel]

OK how about this...

Damaged molds cannot be removed from the press unless red tagged by a Molding Engineer or Supervisor.

Only Engineers or Supervisors can OK a mold after repairs are completed and subsequently remove the red tag.

After repair or maintenance work has been completed, the red tag must be removed and a green tag must be attached to the mold. Only a Supervisor or Engineer can OK a mold to be green tagged.

Molds needing only general maintenance after a run can be yellow tagged by a setup technician, supervisor or engineer.

No molds with red or yellow tags can be put into production until the appropriate repair or maintenance work has been completed.

yadda yadda yadda......

 

[dictatorforlife]

It sounds like extra work, but whenever I have to write a procedure, the first I do is flowchart the process. Flowchart the current process, cut out unnecessary steps, find any weak spots where the system could fail, and then make a new flowchart that reflects your improvements. Then you can write out the procedure in whatever format your company uses. Take pictures or use drawings to show steps that are hard to explain in words. Sometimes a flowchart is enough because all the mechanic or operator has to do is follow the instructions and then go to the next box. All the decisions are made by following yes/no arrows.

In our plant, I use a quarantine system for toolholders that we use. A suspect or damaged toolholder goes in a quarantine basket, it gets rebuilt on a small bench that is just for toolholders. It is tagged with a "Go" tag and placed in the "Go" box. The rebuilder performs an inspection on the toolholder, so in this case there is no reason to state the exact repair, and just the presence of a tagged toolholder in the "Go" box is notification to the user that the toolholder is up to spec. So far, this has worked pretty well unless lots of toolholders failed at once. Whoever is doing the maintenance has to be proactive and go look in the quarantine basket.

I guess I got off-topic a little bit. All I meant to say was that if you flowchart your die replenishment process, you can write the procedure from the chart, and it will be very good.