Redzone Update by Jessica Fair & Matt Downing
It may come as no surprise that RedZone has been a big deal in Contract Packaging lately. Production has incorpo- rated it into all the lines and if you spend any time on the production floor then you’ve at least seen or heard quite a bit by now. With production using RedZone, this allowed the Quality Assurance (QA) department to activate the compliance portion of RedZone and dive into what all RedZone has to offer. Using RedZone the line technicians (techs), as well as other positions, will be able to make better use of time, have improved quality checks that are more efficient and accurate, and free up some time to do other tasks. By switching to RedZone we are able to eventually go paperless. This means techs will no longer be carrying around a small book everywhere they go; forms won’t go missing or be illegible; pulling up product information will be at your disposal as long as there is Wi-Fi; and it saves trees and money spent on paper. Techs have a lot of responsibil- ity riding on their documentation. It takes time to flip through pages trying to find one thing in particular, write down all the codes, and not to mention, trying to go through and trying to read and verify it if the individual’s hand writing is poor. With RedZone all that information is already filled in by the line operator selecting their run within RedZone. This frees up so much time wasted on writing down all the information. RedZone documents the time of checks too, so the tech won’t have to worry about documenting time since it is done automatically. It also allows them to have any document they need to perform their task at their fingertips. We are adding all the standard oper- ating procedures (SOP) to RedZone so if there is ever a question it can be pulled up right then and there. Since all the techs have their own iPads they will have electronic signatures saying they were the one to complete the checks and not just anyone walking by. By going paperless we will free up room used to store records and docu- ments and using that space for other, more profitable means. RedZone will make audits so much easier because you won’t have to go digging for documents since all will be available on the IPad. With that, the techs are used to checking certain items on “their time” documenting on paperwork; whereas now, they have to wait until RedZone triggers the datasheet to their iPad. This is a bit of an adjustment, because being on a “time clock”, the techs do not have to do “continuous” rounds. They go to the designated line when they are prompted by RedZone. The techs have been very patient with us, as we continue to modify the timing of triggers and styles of datasheets. It can be frustrating at times, but overall, it has been a good transition. We really appreciate the techs adapting to the change from paper to using technology. We plan on having carts specially made so that techs will be able to perform their whole round (the checks on the line) at the line, as opposed to having to go back to their weigh station, and make any necessary changes at that moment instead of 15-20 minutes later once they received results in their weigh station. This will make all adjust- ments real time and potentially reduce amount of product pulled if an issue is present. The carts will reduce unnec- essary walking by quite a bit and should free up time for the techs to complete other tasks that will come up. In general, this is a big and exciting step for QA.
(above) Julie Tomblin; (right) Crystal Kessel, Katrina Berogan & Sherry Joos
Stina Kanaras, Marisa Lopez & Jean Armstrong
Kathy Conant, Joanne Waters & Trish Carter
October, November & December 2017 Crest Ink 9
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