A clipboard by the folder-gluer
Before running a carton job, the operator should check the first good cartons against the approved sample and spec: dimensions, print register, colour, barcode, crease quality and glue. The supervisor should sign it off. In practice it is a paper sheet on a clipboard, which is signed off when the supervisor passes by, and in-run checks are ticked at the end of the shift.
Months later a customer queries a batch. Finding the check sheet for that job means searching a box file in the quality office.
Paper checks are easy to skip
The checks themselves are well understood. The problem is that paper cannot prompt, cannot stop a run that has not been approved, and cannot link itself to the job and pallets it relates to. Busy operators and supervisors under pressure to start running will cut corners, not from carelessness but because nothing makes the check the natural next step.
- The check sheet is generic, not specific to the product.
- Supervisor sign off happens late or after the run started.
- In-run checks are filled in at the end of the shift.
- Photos and measurements are not captured.
- Sheets are filed separately from the job record.
When a check is missed
A missed first-off check can mean a whole run made with a fault, such as a misregistered print or a wrong barcode, which becomes waste and a reprint, or worse, a complaint from the customer's line. When a customer queries a batch, being unable to show the checks weakens your position. And audits find gaps between procedure and practice that take effort to explain.
The first-off sample itself tends to disappear too. The approved carton that should sit by the machine as the reference for the rest of the run ends up in a pile, or in the bin, and the in-run checks are made against memory of what good looked like.
Digital line checks we build
- Each product gets a check list built from its specification: dimensions to measure with tolerances, colours, barcode, print register, creasing and gluing points, and any customer specific checks.
- At job start, a tablet at the machine opens the first-off check for that product. The operator enters measurements and takes photos.
- Out of tolerance readings are highlighted, and the supervisor is notified to review and sign off on the tablet or their phone.
- The job shows as not approved in the scheduler and on the machine screen until sign off, and any decision to run without it is recorded with a reason.
- In-run checks are prompted at intervals you set by time or count, and missed prompts are flagged to the supervisor.
- All checks are stored against the job, and linked to pallet labels, so a customer query can pull them up from a batch code.
| Check | On paper | Digital |
|---|---|---|
| First-off | Generic sheet, signed late | Product specific, signed before running |
| Measurements | Written numbers | Entered with tolerance check |
| Evidence | None | Photos attached |
| In-run checks | Ticked at shift end | Prompted at intervals |
| Finding it later | Box file | From the pallet label |
Checks that happen at the right time
Checks become the natural first step of each job because the tablet asks for them and the job waits for sign off. Faults are caught in the first few sheets rather than the last few thousand. When a customer queries a batch, you can show exactly what was checked, by whom and when. And quality can see where checks are skipped and why.
Is your line check a clipboard?
- First-off checks are recorded on paper.
- Supervisor sign off sometimes happens after the run starts.
- In-run checks are filled in at the end of the shift.
- Finding the checks for a past job takes a long time.
- A run has been made with a fault a first-off should have caught.