Paperless Process - Digital Displays - Process Sheets

Hello,
I am in charge of process sheets in our shop and I really want to get away from hard paper copies. I would really like to develop a paperless process as much as possible. I have looked around for industrial digital displays and some sort of software that will allow for displaying of process sheets and measurement inputs. Just curious if anyone else's shop has any similar digital process sheets or displays; if so, what do you guys use and how well is it working?

To sell the idea to the management team I setup a prototype station using a raspberry PI which has built in wifi. I can manually log into the PI and open the process sheets. Once opened the only control the operator has at the bench is using a 10 key number pad to page up or down. The cost savings on this ONE station are considerable and should lead to a quick ROI. Currently the operator cannot input data so the dimensional sheets still have to be printed out but we do save paper, ink, and time on setup sheets, tool sheets, work instructions etc. As I said this prototype was a cheap way to prove out our attempt but I know there has to be some solution that currently exists.

I have attached pictures, any feedback is welcomed!

I suspect the general solution (I hate the word "solution") for this is to install network cables in the shop locations and provide inexpensive computers (laptops) that can run viewer versions of whatever software you use to generate these sheets. Most CAD programs have viewer programs that are free so that a designer can send a drawing to a client who does not have to buy the full CAD program to view the drawings. Adobe has the free Adobe Reader program to view documents created in their other programs that do cost money. Other programs have similar viewers.

Your Raspberry PI set-up may have limitations when you need to display other types of documents. A computer network will be adoptable to almost any future changes in software or document types.

Low end laptops can be purchased for just a few hundred dollars. Your IT guys can set up the network to limit access to just the documents that are needed in the shop if management is concerned about people wasting time. But I don't recommend it. The internet is a VERY valuable resource and one problem solved by a clever worker may make up for thousands of hours of "wasted" time.

My former employer had such a system.
Pros:
Documentation always available
Latest version displayed
Easy to update

Cons:
Operators tied to monitor locations
Maintenance/update headaches
Requires a password protected database
Printed copies were always “floating” around shop
Single point of failure-if computer system goes down, nobody accesses anything

System worked well for our 3 & 4 machine cells, but no so much for our stand alone machines

E189552 said:

My former employer had such a system.
Pros:
Documentation always available
Latest version displayed
Easy to update

Cons:
Operators tied to monitor locations
Maintenance/update headaches
Requires a password protected database
Printed copies were always “floating” around shop
Single point of failure-if computer system goes down, nobody accesses anything

System worked well for our 3 & 4 machine cells, but no so much for our stand alone machines

Click to expand...

E189552,
Do you remember what setup they had? Software name or anything?
We have definitely discussed some of those same cons and hard copies can always be a backup in a pinch if computers go down or if certain jobs require the operator to be more mobile. I am heading into this expecting we will have to tailor whatever we solution we decide upon to our specific needs.

EPAlll,
The rapsberry PI is a prototype, I am looking for suggestions on an established long term solution.