OUTPUT FILE STORING AND NAMING

Naming procedure is extremely important. The best habit to get into is to create a logical naming technique and stick to it religiously . Chances are good that you will be required to find the data file some time in the distant future. Without a logical naming technique, finding the file may take hours. Another consideration is where the output file is stored. Even if the output file name is known, finding it may take considerable time. The following are suggestions to help alleviate this problem.

The first aspect to consider is to where the file is output. If you intend to output to the Minitab or SQC directories (default output directories), then sooner or later you will be faced with so many files in the directory that even the best naming scenario will fail and create a problem. The best solution is to create a directory on the hard drive for each individual machine tryout. Name the directory the same as the machine builder's name and put the output data from Phases I, II, and III and the final step in there. A year or two from now the data can be easily found and will be readily accessible.

To send an output file to another directory when creating it from Minitab, (both Write and Save commands) use the following:

[Write 'C:\Directory\Filename' Cl-Cn].

where Directory is the name of the directory you wish to export the output file to, Filename is the name of the file, and Cl-Cn represents the column numbers of the data set (usually C1-C3).

To send an output file to another directory when creating it from SQC, highlight the 'Route Report Output to File/Printer' line, press Enter, and at the prompt, type the following:

[C:\Directory\Filename.out].

where Directory is the name of the directory you wish to export the output file to and Filename is the name of the file with an .OUT extension.

Another way to separate files is to output the data to floppy disks. The disks can be labeled quite comprehensively with an external stick-on label. It is best to wait until the final step is completed before storing output files on a floppy disk. Waiting until the end will reduce processing time. To send an output file to the A: drive (floppy drive) from Minitab (for both the Write and Save commands), use the following:

[Write 'A:Filename' Cl-Cn].

where Filename is the name of the file and Cl-Cn represents the column numbers in the data set (usually C1-C3). To copy output files from the hard disk to floppy disks, go to the directory that the files were output to and type the following:

[Copy *.MTW A:\] for the Minitab output data files and use

[Copy *.DAT A:\] for the SQC output data files.

Use caution: if the output files are in the default output directory (Minitab directory for the Minitab software and SQC directory for the SQC software), then the above copy commands will try to copy all the output files onto the floppy disk. In this case, you will need to copy the files one by one to the floppy. First decide which output files need to be copied to the floppy, and use the following:

[Copy Filename A:\].

The above command will have to be used with each individual file. To save time, it is better to create a directory to export the output files to before starting and then to use the *.MTW and *.DAT copy commands above when finished.

To create a directory off the root directory

[CD\]	Puts control to the root directory.
[MD DIRNAME ]	Creates a directory named dirname off the root directory.

Remember the spelling of the directory. There is no way to access the directory name's spelling when running either the Minitab or SQC software. To remove a directory that has no files within it, do the following:

[CD\]	Puts control to the root directory.
[RD DIRNAME]	Removes the directory from the hard drive.

If you will be conducting many tryouts with the same machine builder, create a labeling technique in the data file name to be able to separate one machine from another.

Both software packages will prompt you if the output file name already exists. If the output file naming technique is good (it takes experience and forethought), then the only time that you encounter this will be when redoing output files. Be certain that you do not overwrite any files you are unsure of. The best thing to do when faced with overwriting a file is to answer "no" when prompted to overwrite and to call the file by some name that you can remember. After exiting the software, look at the files and decide whether or not to replace them.