Quality Applications

FESTech Virtual Library Benefits Delivers up-to-date document information without native applications Shows drawings by category entry or description screen Doesn't require a database www.festech.com

Instant Access Reduces Downtime

FESTech Software Solutions' Virtual Library has brought Cedar River Paper Co., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to a substantially higher efficiency level. With this software package, Cedar River Paper has reduced its production equipment's downtime and saved $38,000 in annual copying expenses.

 Cedar River Paper had been experiencing a serious problem identified by the maintenance staff in the mill's first year of operation. The mill's designers provided thousands of AutoCAD drawings that frequently needed to be accessed during preventive maintenance or unscheduled repairs. Maintenance personnel often found themselves searching for various drawings and manuals. While they did so, major pieces of production machinery sat idle, costing the plant tens of thousands of dollars. Implementation of the Virtual Library provided the staff with instant electronic access to those necessary information materials.

 Another area of concern was the several copies of paper binders from the plant's equipment suppliers. Because these binders contain instructions for maintenance and repair, at least one copy of each binder was supposed to be kept in the docu-ment control area, with the other copies kept close to the machines. However, manuals frequently disappeared from their assigned areas, which meant that maintenance personnel had to wait while the document control staff member on duty went in search of another copy. When the machine manufacturers sent updates to the manuals, the document control staff often were unable to find every old copy to update, so in many cases out-of-date manuals were used to order parts or perform repairs. In other cases, maintenance staff updated their own personal manuals, but these updates were never made to other existing manuals.

 It was these key problem areas that sent Cedar River Paper engineers, led by Greg Hilton, senior project engineer, to look for a way to provide maintenance staff with quick and easy access to drawings and manuals. After considering the traditional document management solution based on a high-end database, they discovered that they couldn't justify such a sizable expenditure. Then they found a software package that provided a totally different approach for retrieving information across a network.

 The Virtual Library from FESTech Software Solutions of Findlay, Ohio, uses proprietary dynamic pointer technology to provide a structure and access existing information without requiring a database. The software delivers up-to-date information and documentation to any workstation on a local area network or wide area network. Virtual Library also allows users to view and print documentation without the need for native applications such as AutoCAD, Microsoft Word or Excel.

 "Users of the system can simply click on any area or machine to access different materials," Hilton explains. "Once they enter an area, they can select from the different disciplines including electrical, mechanical, structural, process and instrumentation diagrams, and equipment specifications and drawings. They can also select other related files such as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that are used to store records that document information on each paper roll, such as why it was changed and how long it was."

 Although maintenance staff typically use the system as Hilton describes, the search capabilities of the Virtual Library provide an alternate approach. Users can enter key words, such as the name of a piece of equipment or its identification number, to instantly find documents. Double clicking on the line item they are interested in will pull up the drawing or manual through the viewer that is bundled with the product. Once they find the item they need, they can easily pan around the drawing, move from page to page of the document, zoom into areas of interest and make a printout to take with them to the work area.

 The Cedar River Paper mill has installed the Virtual Library on four personal computers located in different areas of the plant. So far about 80 percent of the company's drawings have been entered into the system, and the rest are soon to be completed. Staff members familiar with PCs can use the systems with ease; novices take a special one-hour course.

 With this implementation, Cedar River Paper has seen significant improvement in its operating efficiency, says Hilton. "Machine downtime is reduced because maintenance staff are able to get immediate access to the information they need to make repairs," he notes. "The potential for errors is reduced by the fact that the system always provides accurate and up-to-date information. Finally, the low cost, ease of implementation and ability to run efficiently on inexpensive hardware made it relatively painless to install the system and easy to justify the cost."