RTM! (read the manual).(OPERATIONS: MACHINERY MATTERS)

Food & Drug Packaging October 1, 2007 | Henry, John I never pay attention to instruction manuals and it drives my wife nuts. Using a manual to dope out how to install a dishwasher or set up a DVD player just feels like cheating to me. (I’m also not good at asking directions when lost. It’s probably a guy thing.) This may be OK for household appliances but not for packaging machinery. Unfortunately, too many equipment manufacturers build great machines and then fail to provide equally great operating, maintenance and set-up manuals. go to website how to install a dishwasher

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There are several reasons for this:

* Many packaging machines are customized for each application. Sometimes this means modification of a standard machine. Other times it means a customized machine from the ground up. Customized machines require customized manuals which are time consuming to write. An inverse law of documentation is in play: The more customized the machine is, the harder the manual is to write.

* The manufacturer, and especially the writer, may not understand how the machine will be used in operation. More importantly, they may not match the level and style of the manual to the person who will be using it.

* Some machine builders use engineers to write the manual. Engineers are great at many things; technical writing is not always one of them. Other builders will use in-house or outside technical writers who may not completely understand the machine.

* It’s hard to write a manual before a machine is completed and tested. Once it is completed and tested, the customer usually wants it shipped immediately.

* Then there’s money. Customers often buy machines on the basis of initial price rather than overall cost. When they don’t, builders think they do. Good manuals cost and builders are reluctant to charge for them.

Bad manuals cost even more. These costs accrue over the life of the machine in poor set-ups, improper operation and inadequate maintenance. Unfortunately, the machine cost is visible, the lifetime costs are hidden. in our site how to install a dishwasher

All of these problems are compounded in imported machinery by translations. It’s easy, but wrong, to blame machine builders for these problems. Customers share a lot of the blame by not insisting on good manuals (and being willing to pay for them!). Builders must also do their part by showing the customer the value of a good manual.

The Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (www.pmmi.org) publishes an excellent Technical Documentation & Style Guide. Buyers should insist that machine builders use this as a guideline for their manuals.

A final thought: Machine manuals need to be profusely illustrated with pictures, diagrams, drawings and charts. One picture is worth a thousand words.

A good manual, by itself, is not enough. People need to use it. But that’s another column.

John Henry, Certified Packaging Professional (CPP), is renowned as the Changeover Wizard. His company, Changeover.com, specializes in improving line efficiencies for packagers by reducing downtime. Contact John at johnhenry@changeover.com or 787-550-9650.

Henry, John