Blue Cedar | Working with a system integrator, this project was ultimately for a major beverage manufacturer building a brand new plant at a small town called Ballina in the Irish Republic.We were brought into the project at an early stage early by the principle system integration contractor to create the documentation that would be required to enable the new factory to be up and running quickly, efficiently and safely.
We coordinated a project briefing meeting very early on. This included the system integrator and the end user to agree the initial scope and also to discuss the line control philosophy. This was followed by some extensive research, gathering together OEM documentation for the equipment that was required to build the new packaging lines. From this a high level documentation map was produced including overviews of the expected content of the final manuals for each top level process identified.
The next step allowed us to utilise our hands on approach designed to ensure true, in depth knowledge in order to create the best possible documentation covering all of the systems fully integrated into their practical environment. In essence, this ensures that there are no gaps between the written manual and practical real life operational experience.
Our philosophy of total flexibility in order to meet our customers’ needs was tested to the full with this project when we arrived on site to find the factory only half built and the equipment that made up its working systems still in shipping containers.
We were able to use our practical experience to actively assist the system integrator with the commissioning process by rolling up our sleeves and getting stuck in. Getting involved in the commissioning provided us with valuable specific experience which contributed to the shortening of the process of creating operating and safety manuals and a training plan.
In this case, we wrote training and operation manuals and then conducted a number of “train the trainer” sessions with the senior operators and supervisors who would actually go on to operate the new systems when the factory was ready to be handed over to production.
By the time we left Ballina we had ensured a smooth knowledge transfer for operating the new systems efficiently and safely. We left behind process, operating and safety manuals written with practicality in mind based upon the real situation on the factory floor.
