Visualising a sequence

Out of interest, what methods (if any) do you use to visualise a sequence? What I want is some method of showing a sequence to a mechanical engineer and allow him to follow it through and comment/edit it.
Thanks for any insight.

pp

Err --- ahhh - thats what I want to do and start typing, plus a few notes and the drawings that I have done anyway. Seriously.

For them, a flow chart

Managers love flow charts and graphs, because they are easy to understand. No matter whether your process will be extremely complicated, or a simple pick and place machine, a flow chart will help them understand, and it may help you also. Simply start at the top with the beginning, product or no product. If product present, do this, if not do that sort of thing. I have found this to be a simple method of gaining approval while also using it as a basic outline when I'm programming.

Russ

I always put everything in a word document, with it broken down into different sections, it's basically a replacement for a flow chart, but can be emailed and no special software needed to view.
Example:

• Scope, describe what the program is designed to do. “This program will meter raw material from the storage tank to the process with a delivered quantity within +/- (tolerance) of desired quantity.”
• List the pre-start conditions. “All devices must be in auto, and not faulted”
• List Operator inputs. “Desired quantity”
• List Engineering parameters. “ Delivered tolerance”
• List the sequence of operations in a step by step method. Clear meter counts, open valve a, open valve b, start pump, run until delivered amount >= desired amount, stop pump, close valve b, close valve a, compare delivered amount to desired amount alert operator if outside tolerance.
• List conclusion operations. “Historize both delivered and desired quantities, with a date/time stamp."

I always have everyone sign off on this before I do any programming. It ensures everyone is operating off the same page and it can be used as a rough programming guide, this comes in handy when there is a lot of time between proposal and implementation.

You can use Grafcet also known as SFC (Sequential Function Chart).

Don't draw