Template for shop file management?

I am trying to wrap my head around a usable file management plan. I don't feel a need for a real ERP system, but things are getting out of control in this place. We have 3 desktops used, one only for accounting, (wife's machine) one for invoicing, quoting, correspondence, drawings and technical stuff,(my office) and one for programming out in the shop. None are networked together. We have 3 machines, only the 2 mills are hooked to the shop PC, lathe programmed at control with USB used to move programs to computer storage.

For years various people have marched to their own beat right from naming new programs, to where they put them. I have a folder tree with clients in alphabetical order breaking down to year, month, and from there it gets a bit disorganized. If a client sends an RFQ, I make a folder with a quote # to store prints, vendor quotes, emails etc. This part works mostly, but sometimes a client issues a PO without a quote being done, or just drops the job on the bench and says "fix it". So it becomes hard to keep track of If I haven't started a paper trail from the beginning.

Then we have the programming computer where over the years there have been 6 different people creating programs, many just creating their own folder, (Bob's files) and creating program names as they dream them up. One programmer created a Mastercam folder with a client folder tree like I have, but there is just dozens of programs with no organization. And by default Mastercam saves NC. files to one folder. Often we repeat jobs frequently and once it is proved out there is no need to actually re-post the file, just send it to the machine but no one has bothered to save the NC. files separately. We also have created tool libraries we need to track.

With the volume of files we have developed over the years everyone realizes we have a problem, and is on board to adopt whatever solution we come up with, I am trying to write a procedure for naming files, and how to store them. Problem is nobody here including myself have any real experience with creating a file system. I'm wondering as well if I should be working on connecting work stations, and controlling who sees what on those work stations? In general I'm stymied on where to start.

I think one of the key pieces of information missing from your post is part number. Everything ties back to the part number. If your customers do not supply one, then create one. As far as nomenclature for file naming, use part number and a brief description of what the file is (i.e GCode File = 123-456_OP1, OP Cert = 123-456_AnodizeCert)

We use the following file structure:

Jobs > Customer > Part Number > Everything else (Multiple folders separated by category: CAD, CAM, Drawing, Email...)

Part number might suggest the customer name. perhaps the first 3 or 4 numbers suggest customer’s name. 126= Buck’s grinding shop xx Mt Clemens mi
Then perhaps 1 to 999 in the next slot = the customer’s print reference so that would make 1 the customers first print 2 the second print for that customer. 1264 = Bucks grinding / 4th job.

The rest of the number might be the customers part print number. 1264T479765 = Buck's / 4th job / Buck's part print number

Ok here is how I go.
Each computer has a dropbox folder with exactly the same path -some computers at the office, some at home.(C:\dropbox)
In this dropbox I have a folder for each client and each of my own projects or machines.
Each clients folder gets a new sub folder made with every job - the sub folder is named 20181122- (your job name here) this means that if I open a clients folder all their folders are sorted by date. In the dated and named sub folder I will put client drawings, purchase orders, material certs and maybe a text document with setup notes and so on. I will also make sub folders for my working drawings and nc programs. Because the path is the same on all my computers an assembly model will open and will be able to be worked on anywhere.

I also have a separate financial folder in the dropbox with sub folders for quotes to customers, purchase orders to suppliers, customer invoices and delivery notes.

All my folders and drawings I name using the date as the first part of the name so it is always sorted and I don't have to be too fussy with names as I am not likely to to have names being repeated.

This gives me the same access to all my files not matter which computer I am at and all my computers are synced pretty regularly and with a backup to a portable hard drive I shouldn't be loosing any data when a computer dies.

Hope that helps,

I still have a file cabinet with folders for different customers drawings/notes, and it gets cleaned up once in a while.
Customers have a couple files on the computer, ABC Lathe Programs, ABC Mill programs. XYZ Lathe Programs, XYZ mill Programs... and in that its all sorted by drawing number(and rev if needed).
I think the big thing is to clean that up too once in a while, archive the old stuff worth keeping, delete all useless crap, why keep stuff from a customer that hasn't been around in 10years... Makes it look a lot less cluttered. You don't want to be sorting through 10-20yrs of crap for day to day business.
At the speed some people change revisions, there's even a lot to be said for just deleting everything and starting fresh every time...

SND said:

At the speed some people change revisions, there's even a lot to be said for just deleting everything and starting fresh every time...

Click to expand...

That is the reason that every time I do a new job / quote it goes into a newly dated subfolder, the contents might be identical to previous, but this is the purchase order, drawing and program we use now.- no exception.

The older stuff can be archived if needed some time in the future, I don't have hard copies pretty much paperless, I do scan stuff to put in my system like material certificates and customer sketches if needed, drawings come by email.

I would suggest getting a NAS (Network Attached Storage). They are very inexpensive and have a second drive which can automatically back up your files as needed. Connect all the computers and machines in the shop through a hub to the NAS. this way everyone has access to the SAME information.
What we do here regarding file organization is there is a general customer folder. Inside that folder is a list of customers. Inside each specific customer there are folders for each part number. Inside that folder we have the drawing, program and setup sheet. There is also an archive folder where all the cam files and any old programs reside.
In this way if we are running part xyz123 from customer ABC we just go to the ABC folder, find folder xyz123 and in that folder is the setup sheet, program and blueprint.
Very simple and straightforward.
If you need to quote, you can create a separate top level folder for customer quotes that follows the same organization. If you get the job, all you have to do is drag and drop the quote folder to the correct customers Part folder.

I hope this helps

Sam

I assume a windows environment, and that makes it a huge pain in the ass to set file/folder permissions by user. Groups? forget about it. You can probably hire a windows network tech. I think that a waste of money.
If the guys on the floor can't / aren't trusted with the accounts then leave them out.

Also having several users logging on/off one machine seems a waste of time. It would be better to have everyone instructed on naming/ saving procedures.
I generally don't bother putting the date in file names as it's already part of the attributes. Not sure how windows file explorer handles it, but if you set to "detailed" view and click the "date created" column header, it SHOULD sort, sub-folders and all, by the date created. Same for date accessed/modified.

You will have the best understanding of what folder heirachy will suit, several posts above have laid out different ways.
From what you've given I'd be inclined to have one number that gets stamped across any file linked to X job.
Obviously the Client-Date system has worked OK to now, so it will probably do going forward.

It's going to be tedious, but backup every file as-is. Then dump a copy to a third location, then manually put them into the new heirachy. This is "sanitation" san- for SANE.

An sql/database software may be worth looking in to. This will be infinitely better with a sane backend, but could be fuddled around existing files.