Have you ever lost a file on your computer? You know it’s there – you can remember receiving it, but you’ve forgotten who sent it to you or even the name of the file. You try a number of different search techniques for finding it—without any luck. I’ve been there, and it can be really frustrating.
Now multiply that one lost document by a thousand or even tens of thousands. That gives you just a hint of what it’s like for a business that must maintain control of all of its documentation. In many manufacturing companies today, document control is a critical enabler of operational efficiencies. Without it, an entire product line can lose all of its profits with one simple mistake.
As businesses are under increasing pressure to design and manufacture products quickly, managing all the processes and content related to product operations becomes a critical element for the overall success of the company. This entire process entails having effective document control, document review, and change management processes. It also includes being able to manage any kind of documents such as a CAD file, a Word document, a demo movie or a software executable file. Document control processes need to be efficient while, in many cases, maintain compliance with various regulatory standards (e.g. RoHS, WEEE, FDA, ISO).
In addition to managing documents within the company, they must also support efficient management of processes that expands beyond the company’s boundaries into the entire supply chain. Processes such as nonconforming materials, equipment calibration, and supplier qualification are critical for the ability to meet compliance and quality targets.
And don’t forget, executives in the company must have access to relevant process metrics and trends so that they can keep watch over the effectiveness of their quality initiatives and product creation activities. Typically, document control is entrusted with making these reports available for executives.
Critical areas for document control include the following:
- Tracking of document revisions, changes and synchronization of documents across various organization
- Sharing of accurate product information with suppliers and partners
- Managing the life cycle of product information and tracking changes
- Managing quality system procedures and processes
QuadRite’s RitePro™ solution provides a built-in, best practice based information model, business rules and use cases to address all of your document control challenges.
RitePro is an out-of-the-box application that can be deployed within days, instead of months. As a fully web-native application that is offered as a cloud-based or in-house solution, it minimizes the IT support need and enables ease of information access and sharing across the extended enterprise.
Just ask Dwayne Meyer, senior quality engineer at TMLS, a medical device manufacturer and QuadRite customer since 2012. Prior to RitePro, regulatory requirements and other processes generated a huge amount of paperwork, and they had trouble keeping track of everything. “With RitePro, everything is simpler because we don’t have to deal with paperwork at all–no filing, no losing papers. It’s all done electronically. We’re always just a couple of clicks away from accessing any information. It’s a big time and cost savings for us.”
Click here to read about the success TMLS has achieved using RitePro. To learn more about QuadRite and RitePro, click here.