An Introduction of Office Automation and A Document Management System Within a Multiple Plant Manufacturing Organization

Baxter Dade Division is a U.S. manufacturer of diagnostic healthcare equipment and supplies. As a result of the introduction of a new series of technology products, sales revenue and production volumes have grown considerably in recent years. The problem facing this organization was that existing manufacturing specification documentation systems could not keep pace with recent production volume increases. The resultant system inefficiencies manifested themselves in delays in the implementation of instruction revisions, inconsistencies in specifications between distributed plant facilities, and a significant increase in the cost of clerical staff to administer documentation processing. To address these problems, this work focused on the definition, design, and selection of an automated documentation system with a central library of production specifications accessible to all plants via an interactive computer inquiry methodology. To solve these problems a computer based Electronic Documentation System was proposed to expedite the processing of manufacturing specifications. Specific tasks included the development of an Electronic Documentation System requirements definition, a conceptual design of a software application that satisfied these requirements, a review of market available systems, and a final recommendation to senior management of a cost effective and efficient system solution to the documentation issues. All recommendations presented as a result of this study were approved by Baxter Dade Division senior management and are currently being implemented. The organization has recently hired a Data Base Administrator to oversee the development and on-going processing of this new system. Reduced paper work processing, faster manufacturing specification through-put, and better documentation revision control will result as this system is introduced