there were many topics that are touching the subject of how to organize a team to increase the efficiency and productivity, but none of those topics covered what i have on hand. I am tasked to connect broken links within my organization. I also understand that software help is only valid if set-up system is proper.

So, i work in a small engineering company that is designing ASME Section VIII vessels. Units are following the same logic, but are designed to the specific application - no 2 are alike. If you work/have worked in such company, you understand that there is a stupid amount of data that is flowing in every possible direction (and it is increasing every day). In order to properly understand what is happening within the organization, that data needs to be organized into useful information and forwarded where ever needs to be forwarded. The big issue on hand is that we do not own machine shop, so all work is subbed-out, to several shops, which multiplies our work. AT this point, everything is handled by excel spreadsheets, and relying on human interaction emails and in-person and we do not have any file management system. All files, drawings, etc.. is stored in folders on our server.

Work flow is as follows:
Once order comes from sales, our production guy takes all the info and forwards it to engineering. Engineering forwards info to drafting for drawings. Once drawings are developed they go to customer for approval, and shops for quotation. Engineering also works on engineering submittals that can vary - calculations, flow diagrams, various data sheets and such, which all go out to customer for approval. At the same time QC guy is working on quality requirements (Usually Non-Destructive Tests and various material requirements), working with vendors on procedures and submitting said procedure to customer for approval. In any time of the project, information can flow backwards from shops/customer and relevant information needs to be updated where needed which can affect everything - thicker material due to pressure ratings, for example.

To complicate the problem, we are dealing with project differently based on the complexity. Some can go without engineer's input - drafting takes care of every detail. Some require engineers oversight for months. This messes up work flow, obviously, so you can't create SOP.

Obviously, having this many different aspects complicates our production supervision, as it is hard to tell whether the drawing went out to shop, or if the latest revision has been forwarded. This is also important as all of our larger orders are tied to progress payments, and it happens all the time that we miss to notice that we have reached a milestone for invoicing and do not invoice on time.

Now multiply this with ~900 POs that we have coming in on a yearly basis and many many more going out to our vendors/suppliers. (50% of our incoming POs are simple/spare orders, but some still need to be tracked)

And the biggest problem of all is a 100 year old system with older generation employees who may not be keen to changes, especially if it involves heavy computer use.


So my task is connecting production, procurement, invoicing and QA/QC into one unit, that will work seamlessly and provide our products to our customers on time (current late delivery rate is huge).



In terms of software, I looked at some project management cloud systems - bitrix, wrike, basecamp, and they really do not match our needs. I need something that is quick. We do not have long lasting tasks. I just need to know when document was received and to have it forwarded (or notified) automatically to whoever needs to be notified. It seems that , ion order to properly tackle this, a company wide document management system would be the best for my need. the drawback is that it needs time to implement and time to teach almost retired people on how to use it...


Any help, pointer, anything that can help me is very very much appreciated..



Thanks to all brave souls that were able to read through everything above and reach this point. Due t the length of this post, i may have failed to properly explain portions of my problem. Will clarify if needed.