The checklist at the machine, without the clipboard.
Start-up checklists, cleaning sheets and parameter readings become forms that check each value against its tolerance as it is entered and lock once submitted. Work instructions open from the cockpit in the version that applies, with every earlier version kept.
Paper works at the machine. It fails on the way to the office.
A sheet is quick, works in a power cut and needs no training. What it cannot do is reach anyone before someone carries it, warn anyone that a value was out of range, or prove which version of an instruction was on the wall. The first sheets to go are the ones the machine can fill in: in VZIAM MES counts, run times and stop durations come from the controller, and no form asks for them.
Five rules for forms and documents.
A digital form is only worth more than paper if what it records cannot drift afterwards. These rules are how.
- 01
A submitted form is read-only.
Once the operator signs and submits, the answers are locked. A record that can be edited after the fact is not evidence of anything.
- 02
A hidden question is never required.
Questions can appear, or become required, depending on earlier answers. A hidden question is never mandatory and its value is not saved, so a form never records an answer to a question nobody was asked.
- 03
A form that is due is asked for, never blocking.
Forms can fall due at the start or end of an order, or periodically. A missing one never stops an order from starting or closing; it is named on the order’s report instead.
- 04
A new file is a new version.
Replacing a document creates a version and keeps the old one. Archiving takes it out of the current list without erasing its history.
- 05
Opening a document is logged, with its version.
Each access records which version was served. That proves the file was delivered, not that it was read or understood, and the software does not pretend otherwise.
Forms and documents, at the station that uses them.
Typed fields with tolerances
Text, numbers with a minimum and a maximum, yes or no, choices and dates. A value outside its range is flagged as it is entered, and a required field left empty stops the submission.
Conditional questions
Show a question, or make it required, depending on an earlier answer. A condition the software cannot read leaves the question shown and optional, so the error is seen rather than a question silently dropped.
Due at the right moment
Bind a form to a machine or an order: on demand, at the start or end of the order, or periodically. The operator finds it on the cockpit when it falls due.
Signature and co-signature
The operator signs on submission, and a template can ask for a co-signature from a supervisor or a quality role before the form is complete.
Instructions where they apply
Work instructions and one-point lessons attached to machines, articles, orders, quality points and maintenance procedures, opened from the cockpit at the station they apply to.
Required reading, on record
An attachment can be marked mandatory, and every opening is logged with the version served. Lists are scoped to the user’s site, and no file is served without a session.
What the module commits to.
- Field types
- Text · number with min and max · yes or no · choice · date
- Conditions
- Show if · require if
- Due
- On demand · order start · order end · periodic
- Submission
- Signed, then read-only
- Documents
- Versioned; old versions kept
- Access
- Authenticated; lists scoped by site
Frequently asked questions.
Send photographs of your sheets and ask the engineers which ones they would digitise first.
Book a callStart-up checklists, cleaning and changeover sheets, parameter readings and first-level audits: anything built from typed fields with tolerances. Counts, run times and stop durations need no form at all, because they come from the controller.
It is flagged as it is entered, and the value is kept with the submission as entered. A measurement that belongs to a control plan is handled as a quality check, with its recheck and its alerts.
No. A submitted form is read-only, which is what gives it its value as evidence in an audit.
They see the current version of each document attached to their machine, article or order. Earlier versions stay in the history, and each opening records which version was served.
No, by design. A form that is due shows as due, and if it is not filled in the order’s report names it. Blocking would put a form on the line’s critical path, where a badly configured template could stop a line at night with nobody there to release it.
Plan the change before it reaches the line.
Request a demo and an engineer looks at how your production runs today, shows how the software would fit around it, and where a pilot on one line would start.
01Pick a time
Choose a slot in the calendar, and note what you make and what reads your machines today.
02Screen shared with an engineer
A video call with someone who builds the software, in English or French.
03What would connect
For each machine, its path: native (OPC UA, MQTT or HTTP push), through a gateway, or nothing to build.