A QR CODE BASED SYSTEM FOR ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSES WASTING REDUCTION

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1 A QR CODE BASED SYSTEM FOR ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSES WASTING REDUCTION Ing. Jana Hořejší, West Bohemia University, Univerzitni 8, Pilsen Czech Republic ABSTRACT The processes could be divided to manufacturing and non-manufacturing processes. This paper is focused on the nonmanufacturing processes. Because problems occurring in those processes could be so multispectral, it is focused only on the administrative processes. It means many various types of administrative processes for example processes such as project bids, project planning, scheduling, mortgage applications, customer service order entry, product development, logistics processes etc. Goal of this paper is present some basic ideas about administrative processes improvement with aid of new technologies. The implementation and validation will be subject of future research. KEYWORDS Non-manufacturing processes, administrative processes, QR Code, Augmented reality INTRODUCTION Although information technology is used practically everywhere these days, most of the communication in companies is conducted via ordinary paper documents. This paper introduces a basic idea of a system which uses a QR code technology in order to reduce a wasting time in administrative processes. NON-MANUFACTURING PROCESSES The main difference between manufacturing and non-manufacturing processes is that output of these processes is not physical material but information or some kind of service (see Figure 1). Non-manufacturing processes could be described as: in most cases are not value added processes adding costs extend supply date lower productivity Figure 1: Non-manufacturing processes Many companies are improving only manufacturing processes and forgetting on administrative processes. The praxis showed how important are non-manufacturing processes [1]: Many companies do not have flow chart for administrative processes Manufacturing processes are influenced by non-manufacturing processes 30% of reclaims are caused by manufacturing processes but 70% from non-manufacturing processes Approx % order costs are office processes More than 50% of lead time are non-manufacturing processes For case of process improvement (or so called lean improvement) could be successfully used the methods of industrial engineering, originally used only for manufacturing. The purpose of use of those methods is to eliminate all wasting or non-value added activities from processes.

2 WASTING IN ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSES There can be defined 8 basic types of wasting for manufacturing. For administrative processes is possible to define 9 kind of wasting [2]. Let us describe the first two a little more deeply: Overproduction. This kind of wasting can affect the process outputs significantly. Examples: o duplicate files, o producing reports no one reads or needs, o making extra copies (where it is impropriate). o To reduce or eliminate this type of waste could be use methods like: Tact Time Standard Work Leveling or Heijunka, etc. Waiting for (people, signatures, information, etc.). Examples: o too many signatures or approvals, o delays in receiving information, o computer program version problems. o To eliminate this type of waste, use: Value Stream Mapping 5S Lean Reporting and Communications, etc. There are many more types of wasting: Overprocessing (extra data, extra equipment, extra control activities). Employees tend to make things more complicated than they actually are and companies do the same mistake. Inventory (Stock, work piles, excess supplier). Time is considered inventory. Customers waiting for services may also be considered inventory. Excessive Motion. All movement of people, paper, electronic exchanges that does not add value, can be generated by poor office layout or design, ineffective office equipment, supplies located afar, etc. Defects (Defects, rework, errors) result in additional administrative processes that will add no value to the product or service. It is always better to perform a job for the first time than correct the defect. Transportation. Movement of work that does not add value Underutillized creativity (second worst type of wasting) result of not placing employees where they can and will use their knowledge, skills, and abilities to the fullest providing value added work and services. The Waste of Office Politics. Additional work that is done solely to gain favor with management. This is a delicate subject, but must be addressed, as it has proven to be a real issue within organizations. QR CODE QR (Quick Response Code) code (see Figure 2) is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional bar code) first designed for the automotive industry in Japan. Bar codes are optical machine-readable labels attached to items that record information related to the item The code consists of black modules (square dots) arranged in a square grid on a white background. The information encoded may be made up of four standardized types ("modes") of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte / binary, Kanji) or, through supported extensions, virtually any type of data [1] QR Codes are similar to the standard bar codes that currently appear on all types of consumer products, except QR codes can contain much more information than traditional barcodes. QR Codes have been widely used in Japan and Europe in recent years, but are only now starting to gain use with marketers in the United States. Major U.S. businesses that have begun using QR codes in advertising and promotions include Best Buy, Ralph Lauren and Pepsi. [2]

3 Figure 2: QR code [5] A QR code is read by an imaging device, such as a camera, and formatted algorithmically by underlying software using Reed-Solomon error correction until the image can be appropriately interpreted. Data is then extracted from patterns present in both horizontal and vertical components of the image.(chyba! Nenalezen zdroj odkazů.) [1] Figure 3: QR code reading [6] QR code can be used for [2]: Conference/Event Displays, Print Advertisements, Business Cards, Brochures, Posters and Flyers, Postcards and Mailers, Banking operation, Paying (like LevelUp service) [3], Virtual stores [4], etc. Once a QR code is scanned the encoded information can be used to automatically trigger a range of actions on the user's device, including: View a Mobile Website or Landing Page, Dial Telephone Number, Send a Text Message, Send an , View a Message or Special Offer, Download Contact Details (VCARD), View a Google Maps Location, View a Social Media Profile, etc. PROPOSED SYSTEM This chapter will present a basic idea concept for use of QR code for administration processes improvement. From more interviews with more employees working in administration section emerged more wasting issues. Proposed system tries to help with the overprocessing issue which can be also related to overproduction. Many times the administration employee do not know what to do with a document which he/she is not processing on daily basis (non a regular task). From the interviews also emerged that the amount of those tasks differ: from no at all per day to more than five per day. Those tasks are one of the huge time consumers. The solving of this problem lies commonly in making more phone conversation or trying to find the information in ERP, Intranet documents or Internet. Only one third of time is studying the information. The proposed system could help with search time reduction.

4 The system counts on a smart-phone accompanied employee or computer station. All documents will be accommodated with QR code, where can be coded more types of information like: web address with document processing information (with text or/and multimedia components), direct link to ERP system, phone number to a person responsible, combination of all mentioned. Figure 4: System proposal Additional document information can be displayed directly on smart-phone or tablet display. Alternatively could be the Smart-phone and table computer (PC/Mac) connected to LAN with Cloud data sharing possibilty. The data can be displayed in this way: after QR-code shooting, the relevant information can be presented on computer display. QR codes can be naturally scanned also from a computer screen. It allows to process digital document (like pdf) in the same way. CONCLUSION AND THE FUTURE WORK The proposed system can be used for many types of documents and many types of companies (small/large, manufacturing/non-manufacturing). It is in the state of idea and waiting for program realization and validation. Then we expect an implementation in a demo-university-company. We expect the use of 3 PC stations with tablets for this alpha testing. There will be only the processing information on smart phone/tablet considered for the first version (0.1) of application. This application should be developed for Android only. For the next version (0.2) will be also to connection to a workstation implemented. There is information system HELIOS installed on a test bed system, which is a classical client-server database ERP. We expect the easier implementation for browser based ERP like SAP. This realization includes also a Windows service development. This service constantly will be watching the communication for the Android app. After the university test bed environment will be this system tested in chosen company, where will be also tested the type of code in dependence to effectiveness improvement.

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper was prepared with support of the Internal Science Foundation of the University of West Bohemia SGS REFERENCES [1], [Online] [Cited: 4 20, 2013.] [2] [Online] [Cited: 4 20, 2013.] [3] [Online] [Cited: 4 20, 2013.] [4] [Online] [Cited: 4 20, 2013.] [5] [Online] [Cited: 4 20, 2013.] [6] Ivan Mašín, Ján Košturiak, Peter Debnár., Zlepšování nevýrobních procesů. Liberec : Institut technologii a managementu s.r.o. Liberec, ISBN [7] Don Tapping, Anne Dunn, Doug Fertuck, Vlado Baban., Lean Office Demystified2. Chelsey,USA : MCS Media, ISBN [8], Qr codes scanning. [Online] [Cited: 4 20, 2013.] [9] [Online] [Cited: 4 20, 2013.] [10] [Online] [Cited: 20 4, 2013.] [11] [Online] [Cited: 4 20, 2013.] [12] [Online] [Cited: 4 20, 2013.] 38E TOZSA.pdf. The article has been supported by the form of professional advice within framework of the Project No. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/ Popularization of research and development in mechanical engineering and its results (Popular) and co-financed by European Social Fund and a state budget of the Czech Republic.