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Subject:Re: Component Checklists From:George Mena <George -dot- Mena -at- ESSTECH -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 1 Jul 1998 09:22:00 -0700
The question is "Are component checklists necessary?"
The short answer is "Yes."
Here's where and how component checklists help:
* They help by giving the reader a vehicle to make sure all the parts
required for assembling the end item are in fact present. If you've
ever put together a workbench from a kit you bought at Home Depot or
assembled a toy for your kids for Christmas or a birthday, it's nice to
know you're missing a part beforehand -- even the night before
Christmas.
* They also help the folks in the factory who put the kits together for
shipping. Granted, most of the time, the folks on the outgoing
inspection side of the floor would refer to the bill of materials
*anyway* to make sure all the parts are there, but having that second
checklist as a backup is *always* a good idea. Additionally, it'll
often be the *first* thing an OEM customer is going to look for when the
shipment he ordered comes in; gets back to the basic "Christmas Eve"
scenario, but on an assembly line, where it really matters! No customer
in his right mind can afford to shut down a production line if all the
parts he ordered aren't there!
It's one thing to give a kid a gift a few days late because some of the
parts had to be bought or the kit had to be exchanged; after all, we're
talking about kids. But shut an assembly line down for a few days and
the parents don't work, so they can't even *buy* their kids the toy kits
that turn into things like doll houses and tricycles.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hutchings, Christa [SMTP:cwhutchings -at- HOMEWIRELESS -dot- COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 1998 7:21 AM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: Component Checklists
>
> Hi all -
>
> My Marketing and Product Management groups here are having a bit of a
> discussion about component checklists in our documentation packages
> and
> I'm wondering how you folks handle these.
>
> Basically, Marketing thinks we should include a component checklist,
> but
> Product Management thinks it's not needed since each product package
> will have only 4-5 different components. There is also some feeling
> that
> including such a checklist implies that items are occasionally
> inadvertently left out of the packages (quality control issue).
>
> Most of our product packages will include only an installation card
> and
> warranty card (no manual), and Product Management is concerned about
> the
> cost of adding another piece of documentation to the package. The
> installation cards are already designed as 2-face with only
> installation
> information and there is no room left on them to add a component
> checklist, so including the checklist will require either another
> piece
> of documentation, or a complete redesign of the installation cards
> (forcing them to either a larger size, or 4-face).
>
> What do you folks think? Are component checklists always required, or
> are there times when they are not necessary? And does including such a
> checklist really suggest a quality control problem during the
> packaging
> phase?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Chris Welch-Hutchings
> Senior Technical Writer
> Home Wireless Networks, Inc.
>mailto:cwhutchings -at- homewireless -dot- com
>
>
