paper: FRC 469 Parts Organization System

[IKE]

Thread created automatically to discuss a document in CD-Media.

FRC 469 Parts Organization System by Vikas

The last couple of years I have been giving team 469 an hand during the build season, and I asked this year if I could share their parts organization effort. While very similar to systems I have used with other teams, it has a few tweaks that make it (in my opinion) incredibly effective.

The most important aspect from my perspective is the colored dots they put on as soon as a piece is rough cut. this dramatically reduces the amount of lost "in work" pieces the team experiences. Plus it makes organization very easy for similar, but slightly different brackets and plates.

For me, one of the most interesting things is it mirrors many professional shops fabrication and inventory systems, but with simpler elements that are cheap, but effective.

One of the students wrote this up last week, and I thought it would be good for the FRC community. Implementation is as easy as stopping by an Office Max or Kinkos and getting some colored stickers. Then you too can tell the difference for a scrap piece of aluminum, and a future robot part.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Thank you IKE and 469, we will be implementing this as we finish up manufacturing parts for this year.

[Chris is me]

We do a kind of similar thing, but with plastic bags and a folded up copy of the part drawing. No distinction between practice and comp robot until the parts are done - the ugly ones go on the practice robot.

[IKE]

In the past, I have done bins, but with out the stickers, in work pieces get lost during lunch breaks or between process set ups. Bagging each part is a great idea too.

[JesseK]

This is really cool, and so simple. It helps with one of our biggest problems around organization. Thanks for sharing!

To add to it, we do something along these lines with small labeled boxes (e.g. VEXPro boxes) for our small COTS items. There is a "drive train" box, "intake" box, "shooter" box, etc, etc. This helps us pre-allocate COTS items (like new bearings, VP gear sets, 18T sprockets) to a specific mechanism so they don't get lost or beaten up in a random prototype.