Manufacturing Checklist Application and Review
March 03, 2017
Manufacturing Checklist Application and Review
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with QuickBase
QuickBase is currently being used as tool on tablets for operators on the floor to access information concerning different job orders. It allows users to access, modify, and review process checklists pertaining to Quality Control for the company. The QuickBase application used was created by the Quality Control team, and is maintained by the same. I looked at using QuickBase to create a custom time-study application for use in validating process times, but was unable to get the software to do what I needed.
- QuickBase has an easy to use GUI, which allows users to understand intuitively what the application does.
- QuickBase is very adaptable and modular.
- QuickBase connects well with other software, allowing easy ports of data.
- Programming. I don't know if it's possible to set up user defined formulae to take input and calculate an output on the fly. I searched for some sort of similar functionality within the program, but couldn't figure out how to get even a simple input box to take the input, run it through a function, and display the output in a box next to it.
- Coming from an Engineering/Programming background, the GUI for development was difficult to use sometimes. I'm sure it's very user friendly for people who are not comfortable with coding, but it felt restrictive when I wanted to change some of the functionality.
Answered on previous questions, but will repost here for convenience. Developed custom application for checklist for Quality Control Process in an Engineered To Order plant. Due to massive number of combinations of products possible (some 9 trillion different combinations) for electrical units, Quality Control must check every unit for function and service prior to shipping. QuickBase allows us to have an electronic log of the checklist required for QC and the operator that checked it, which reduces the amount of paperwork and overhead involved in manual storage. Seems to function as a GUI Visual Basic-esque tool, with buttons and drop down menus already ready for use. Putting a checklist together with simple buttons, drop down menus, and text entry boxes is simple with QuickBase.
I develop my own support functions for myself and other personnel by coding in VBA mostly (as it interfaces nicely with Excel). Excel seems to be the preferred universal file type, as most people are comfortable with it. Coding functions into Excel and storing the data in a spreadsheet is somewhat inefficient when trying to do data analysis, but fortunately, Excel can export data tables to more commonly used (but harder to read) data types (CSV, etc), for use with advanced statistical suites (e.g. R, SAS, etc). However, expanding this to a smart phone or tablet is difficult, as VBA (and Excel in general) doesn't play nice with the Android/Apple software.
I was peripherally involved in the development of the checklist from a Manufacturing Engineering perspective, in that I was there to try and optimize the procedure to reduce process time required in completing the checklist without sacrificing quality. My understanding of the QuickBase program was mainly asking questions about ways to store and retrieve data for the operators to quickly display relevant information. I was involved by asking if certain things were possible (scanning a barcode to upload information from the job), which we found an add-on for. Reducing operator input through typing significantly decreased the amount of time doing data-entry, which increased uptime on actual QC related activities. We looked at the possibility of having the operator respond verbally to cue questions from the program, but was not able to find a working voice recognition software that would suffice.
- Solving a specific business challenge
- Building and deploying an application (or multiple applications) that meets our exact needs
See previous answers on the specific business challenges that meet our exact needs.
Not involved. Maintenance and updates of the QuickBase application are handled by the QC Engineering team.