With globalization and the associated cross-location cooperation, increasing shortage of skilled workers and the highest quality standards, uniform specifications are required for the manufacturing processes of products.
Across a variety of industries and use cases, work instructions are an effective method of knowledge transfer and ensure consistent quality awareness among employees.
What are work instructions and why are they important?
In short, a work instruction is a guideline for the proper execution of work steps and describes to the employee in an understandable way which steps are necessary for the correct execution of an activity.
If designed correctly, the work instruction can be used to instruct employees in accordance with the applicable occupational health and safety law.
In most cases, digital checklists are used, which have become an indispensable tool on the store floor thanks to media support and intuitive user guidance.
Good digital work instructions are of great importance in industrial companies, as they are the easiest way to explain how an activity is to be carried out in order to achieve the desired result. They translate instructions from a process-oriented perspective into an easy-to-use tool for employees. Work instructions support the following points, among others:
- Continuous improvement process
- Greater operational efficiency
- Increased occupational safety
- More effective onboarding methods
- Capturing knowledge and making it visible
- Increased motivation
How should good work instructions be designed?
Human error in production processes is a significant source of error. For example, 70% of all accidents in technical systems can be attributed to human error. To avoid this, work instructions can make a valuable contribution.
The following principles should always be observed:
- User-centered and user-friendly
- Effective and easy to understand
- Easy to use for creators and performers
- Quickly available
As in most cases, structure is the be-all and end-all for the creation of instructions, especially in quality management. A clear and logical structure is essential for creating and understanding work instructions.
How to write a work instruction:
When creating work instructions, the focus is on conveying knowledge. Accordingly, the document should be self-explanatory and clearly laid out.
Who (employee:in)
Who has to do the work?
What (content work step)
This must describe the work to be carried out in as much detail as possible.
What for (purpose of the work step)
Stating the purpose is intended to give employees a clear understanding of why the work step is necessary. This increases acceptance and awareness of the task.
How (workflow)
The entire workflow must be broken down.
With what (work equipment)
This defines the test equipment, tools or devices with which the work step must be carried out and how they are to be used. For example, the sizes or variants of the test equipment to be used when carrying out the task can be specified here.
Where (workplace)
It is important to define exactly which workstation, area or system the work instruction applies to.
How much (quantity)
It is necessary to specify how much of something, e.g. batches, pieces etc. are to be produced.
How long (time required)
In this step, the maximum duration of the individual work steps must be defined. This can be a standard amount of time, which must be defined realistically.
In what quality?
Quality standards must be defined in advance and the quality level of the product to be manufactured must be identified. Common KPIs that make quality measurable in the work step are error rates, throughput times, defect categories or scoring during audits.
How safe?
Occupational safety also plays an important role in work instructions. Occupational safety standards should therefore also be specified and applied in the various areas of the company.
Advantages of digital work instructions compared to paper-based checklists:
The basic idea behind work instructions is to document the individual process steps in such a way that uniformity and a high degree of standardization are achieved in the execution of work steps. By using digital checklists to create work instructions, a wide range of benefits can be generated from which both management and the store floor can benefit. The wide range includes
Updates at the touch of a button:
A major advantage of digital work instructions is that they can be updated quickly in the event of changes to the process, an addition to the intermediate step or an update to the test equipment used. This is done centrally by the responsible position, such as the production manager, and is automatically available at all necessary points in real time.
Correct versions at a glance:
Automatic versioning of work instructions ensures that the correct version of the work instruction is in use and that the most recent changes can be tracked. The use of outdated documents could result in a number of subsequent errors.
Addition of additional information such as images / videos:
Visual elements such as photos, videos or interactive PDFs support the comprehensibility of the available work instructions and save time when learning. Especially in the age of social media, visual representations are indispensable.
Multilingualism with a common database:
Digital work instructions are ideal for global use, as different language versions can be created on a common database. This ensures a standard across regional company boundaries without having to share documents across multiple media disruptions.
More efficient onboarding of new employees:
A digital form of work instructions can also simplify processes as part of onboarding processes. Instead of paper checklists and analogue approval processes, processes can simply be digitized and automatic approval processes can be stored.
More awareness of tasks:
Efficiency can be increased by digitizing work instructions. The relevance of the individual work steps is emphasized and traceability is promoted. In addition, improvements in the process can be submitted.
Digital documentation:
With the digital form of work instructions, checks are recorded digitally and evaluated in dashboards. For employees, documentation is now only digital and paper checklists no longer need to be taken from one station to the next.
Thanks to actionable digital work instructions, employees realize that simple tasks like level 1 maintenance can be handled by the maintenance department, saving time and retooling.
3 steps to the successful use of digital work instructions
1. document the process step by step
The easiest way to document a procedure is to first outline the SOP steps. An SOP describes the steps required to complete a task from start to finish. If you have a 65-page manual that covers 9 different processes, you can create a separate SOP for each process.
Once the process has been finalized, the digitalization of the work instruction can begin. Checklist software is suitable for this, allowing you to create your previously defined workflows in the app as checklists, define the respective areas for which the work instruction is valid and define the individual steps in the work instruction as checks. This enables companies to standardize workflows in order to optimize business processes.
Define who is responsible for the process and give a clear idea of the desired outcome. If you are clear about your objectives, it will be easier to formulate the necessary steps. Repeat this process sector by sector until one of the two processes has been established as a methodology.
2. make work instructions easily accessible for employees
Work instructions should be easily accessible to all employees so that they are actually used. This puts an end to searching for and using PDF checklists or paper checklists.
Employees should have easy access to the relevant work instructions via desktop or tablet. The data they record while working can in turn be shared. Ideally, the app should provide all data for the process, such as inspection and test data as well as actual and target values, so that all relevant data is bundled in one place.
In addition, visual formats such as images or videos for each process step can help to make work instructions easier to understand. Text-only instructions can be misinterpreted, whereas with videos or images there are no misunderstandings.
3. learn from your employees and optimize your processes
Digital work instructions are a wonderful opportunity to get to know employees and their processes. Suggested solutions to known deficiencies or information on problem handling can be recorded by employees and in turn serve as a basis for further process optimization.
When choosing a digital solution, opt for a tool with integrated reporting options in order to exploit the full potential of the data collected during the processes.
This simple way of recording knowledge and making it accessible to everyone helps store floor employees in particular, who only have a limited time window to document processes.
Conclusion
Work instructions have become an integral part of everyday life in many companies. They provide structure, serve as knowledge mediators and support the optimization of business processes through standardization. By switching to digital work instructions, you have a powerful tool for making your employees’ knowledge visible. Use the full potential of your work instructions.
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