Anyone else, like me, remembers exactly where something was originally. Then it gets to the stage where you have to have a tidy-up and now buggered if you can think where you put it in the much more recent past. I'm aware of this fact of life and I try move things to themed areas if possible. But it still fails, my idea of themes perhaps change. Anyone any suggestions or anything.
-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
I think the main problem is using the item from its new place of storage and just not returning it there but somewhere else or just to the ever accumalating heap of assorted kit around the work area until that area has to be attacked. See the "volcano" principle of desk-top management - you allow papers to build up and up knowing that if you don't disturb things then everything is in chronological order of when it was placed there - until it gets to the stage of "larva" of cascading flows of papers onto the floor when something has to be done about it. I think I'll invest in some sheets of those little bright circular paper sticker dots. Then a 3 or 4 dot system. First dot , one colour , for each room or shed , garage etc. second dot - for each bay or cubboard has a different colour in that room third dot , different colour ,for each shelf in that bay fourth dot for small items within one box on a shelf all one colour
Even computer recording stuff would only show where things should be , rather than where they actually are - perhaps one day everything will have RFIDs and problem solved.
On a related theme - for a large collection of paper-bound manuals or data sheets. Never pull a manual without replacing its position with a coloured piece of filing card as its so easy to either not replace it in the stack or replace it in the wrong place, and then effectively lost until you spy something out of alphabetical order , years later.
-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
If you're organized, you have MORE time for work. As the manager of a shop, I was the one who inspected and returned service data to the files. The techs had one place to put any that they were done with, so if something wasn't in the files, it was in a small stack, or someone else was using it. The stack was checked and returned to the files every other day.
Parts were sorted by group, category and part number or generic values. need a resistor? You pulled out the drawer for that value to see what wattages and tolerances were in stock. The same with capacitors and working voltages. Most parts could be located and pulled in less time than it took to walk to the parts room. We sold a lot of parts over the counter, so the parts room was directly behind the showroom so the clerk could keep an eye on the customers.
All the work to organize everything took a couple weekends, but it doubled our output per tech. Another thing that helps is to reserve the last five to fifteen minutes of every workday to gather up and put away anything that is obviously out of place. It helps you to develop the habit of making sure things are where they belong. Even though I'm now
100% disabled, I try to keep things straight. I am in the process of catching up, after a long illness and some surgery, but a box by the door with things that need put away in another building makes it simpler than leaving everything scattered around the six buildings. The only things I have trouble finding are what was boxed up for storage, and I can't pick up to look through.
--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.
Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
A problem i find is the "in progress" repairs. Kit that is opened up , trouble diagnnosed , but a replacement part has to be ordered and delivered. There is no point in putting all back together only to taake it apart again when the part arrives. So manual , specialist tools, meters etc relating to that job, that would normally live elsewhere, have to be associated together until job complete, hopefully.
-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
A bigger bench, or storage area for the unit waiting on parts. We used wooden bins and steel shelving to hold these items. Manuals were returned to the files while waiting for the parts, and hardware was put into a coin envelope, or pill bottle with the work order number.
The wood bins were for car radios and small items, and were numbered in consecutive order. The steel shelves were for small TVS and stereos, and the occasional piece of communications equipment, or industrial controller. The shelving units were lettered, and the shelves numbered, from the top, down. The two markings were used to tell on sight which of two areas the item was being stored.
The location was written in pencil on the border of the work order, on the tear away part. It was done in pencil, because we would reorganize the storage when we had a little extra time to free up wasted space. All the work orders waiting on a backorder were in a single file, and were updated and verified during a cleanup.
--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.
Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
"N Cook" wrote in news:f2q39n$4ue$ snipped-for-privacy@inews.gazeta.pl:
I used a clear plastic envelope. Paperwork, notes on problems suspected/found, loose screws, parts, etc went into the envelope. Now a gallon ziplock bag would be ideal, there was no such thing when I had my shop.
We used one of the chassis screws to fasten the envelope to the item under repair along with any loose 'back or side' pieces.
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bz 73 de N5BZ k
please pardon my infinite ignorance, the set-of-things-I-do-not-know is an
infinite set.
bz+ser@ch100-5.chem.lsu.edu remove ch100-5 to avoid spam trap
Mr Cook, you sound like a true sheddie (uk.rec.sheds - check it out, I think it might be right up your street) in which case you will have discovered the pleasures of the wonderful Altoids extra strong mints, which are supplied in a proper little tin, ideal for the storage of small screws, components, gubbins, tiny allen keys, odds n sods etc.
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