With globalization and the resulting cross-location collaboration, a growing shortage of skilled workers, and the highest quality standards, uniform guidelines are needed for product manufacturing processes.
Across a wide range of industries and use cases, work instructions are an effective method for knowledge transfer and ensure consistent quality awareness among employees.
What are work instructions, and why are they important?
In short, a work instruction provides guidelines for the proper execution of work steps and clearly explains to the employee which steps are necessary to perform a task correctly.
If drafted correctly, the work instruction can be used to train employees in accordance with the applicable occupational safety and health law.
In most cases, digital checklists are used for this purpose; thanks to multimedia support and intuitive user guidance, they have become an indispensable tool on the shop floor.
Good digital work instructions are of great importance in industrial companies, as they provide the simplest way to explain how to perform a task to achieve the desired result. They translate instructions from a process-oriented perspective into an easy-to-use tool for employees. Among other things, work instructions provide support in the following areas:
- Continuous Improvement Process
- Greater operational efficiency
- Improved Workplace Safety
- More Effective Onboarding Methods
- Capturing and Making Knowledge Visible
- Increased Motivation
What should good work instructions look like?
Human error in production processes is a major source of errors. For example, 70% of all accidents in technical systems can be attributed to human error. Work instructions can play a valuable role in preventing this.
The following principles should always be kept in mind:
- User-centered and user-friendly
- Effective and easy to understand
- Easy to use for both creators and users
- Available quickly
As is often the case, especially in quality management, structure is the be-all and end-all when it comes to creating instructions. A clear and logical structure is essential for creating and understanding work instructions.
Here’s how to write a work instruction:
When creating a work instruction, the focus is on knowledge transfer. Accordingly, the document should be designed to be self-explanatory and easy to understand.
Who (employee)
Who is responsible for doing the work?
What (Step Description)
The task to be performed must be described in as much detail as possible.
Why (Purpose of the Step)
The purpose of stating the objective is to give employees a clear understanding of why the task is necessary. This increases acceptance of and awareness of the task.
How (Workflow)
The entire workflow must be broken down.
With what (tools)
This section defines which test equipment, tools, or fixtures must be used to perform the work step and how they are to be used. For example, it may specify which sizes or variants of the test equipment should be used when performing the task.
Where (Workplace)
It is important to clearly define the specific workstation, area, or system to which the work instruction applies.
How much (quantity)
You must specify how much of something—e.g., batches, units, etc.—is to be produced.
How long (time required)
In this step, you should specify the maximum amount of time allowed for each individual task. This may be a standard time estimate, which should be defined realistically.
In what quality?
In this context, it is important to define quality standards in advance and to specify the quality level of the product to be manufactured. Common KPIs that make quality measurable in this work step include defect rates, lead times, defect categories, and audit scores.
How safe?
Workplace safety also plays a key role in work instructions. For this reason, workplace safety standards should be established for application across the various departments within 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 consistency and a high degree of standardization are achieved in the execution of those steps. The use of digital checklists to create work instructions offers a wide range of benefits that benefit both management and the shop floor alike. These benefits include:
Updates at the push of a button:
A major advantage of digital work instructions is that they can be quickly updated in the event of changes to the process, the addition of an intermediate step, or an update to the testing equipment used. This is done centrally by the person in charge—such as the production manager—and is automatically available in real time wherever needed.
Correct versions at a glance:
Automatic version control for work instructions ensures that the correct version of the work instruction is being used and that recent changes can be tracked. Using outdated documents could lead to a series of subsequent errors.
Inclusion of additional information such as images or videos:
Visual elements such as photos, videos, or interactive PDFs make these work instructions easier to understand and save time during the learning process. Especially in the age of social media, visual representations have become indispensable.
Multilingualism with a shared database:
Digital work instructions are ideal for global use, as a wide variety of language versions can be created from a shared database. This ensures consistency across regional company boundaries without the need to share documents across multiple media formats.
More efficient onboarding of new employees:
Digital work instructions can also streamline onboarding processes. Instead of paper checklists and manual approval processes, procedures can be easily digitized and automated approval workflows can be implemented.
Greater awareness of responsibilities:
Digitizing work instructions can increase efficiency. It highlights the importance of each step in the process and promotes traceability. In addition, suggestions for process improvements can be submitted.
Digital Documentation:
With the digital version of work instructions, checks are recorded digitally and analyzed in dashboards. As a result, employees now document everything digitally, and there is no longer any need to carry paper checklists from one station to the next.
Thanks to practical digital work instructions, employees realize that simple tasks—such as Level 1 maintenance—can be handled by the maintenance department, which saves time and eliminates the need for retrofits.
3 Steps to Successfully Using Digital Work Instructions
1. Document the process step by step
The easiest way to document a procedure is to start by outlining 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 standard operating procedure for each process.
Once the process is finalized, you can begin digitizing the work instructions. Software for digital work instructions is ideal for this purpose; it allows you to create checklists in the app based on your previously defined workflows, define the specific areas to which the work instruction applies, and define the individual steps in the work instruction as check items. This enables companies to standardize procedures in order to optimize business processes.
Determine who is responsible for the process and provide a clear idea of the desired outcome. Once you are clear about your goals, it will be easier for you to define the necessary steps. Repeat this process sector by sector until one of the two processes has become established as the standard methodology.
2. Make work instructions easily accessible to employees
Work instructions should be easily accessible to all employees so that they are actually used. This puts an end to having to search for and use PDF or paper checklists.
Employees should have easy access to the relevant work instructions via their desktop or tablet. The data they collect while working can then be shared. Ideally, the app will provide all data related to the process—such as inspection and test data, as well as actual and target values—so that all relevant data is consolidated in one place.
In addition, visual elements such as images or videos for each step of the process can help make work instructions easier to understand. Instructions consisting solely of text can be misinterpreted, whereas videos or images leave no room for misunderstanding.
3. Learn from your employees and optimize your processes
Digital work instructions are a great way to get to know employees and their workflows. Employees can document proposed solutions to known issues or provide information on how to address problems, which in turn serves as the basis for further process optimization.
When choosing a digital solution, opt for a tool with built-in reporting capabilities so you can fully leverage the potential of the data collected during your processes.
This simple way to capture knowledge and make it accessible to everyone is especially helpful for shop floor employees, who have only a limited amount of time to document processes.
Conclusion
Work instructions have become an indispensable part of daily life at many companies. They provide structure, serve as a means of knowledge transfer, and help optimize business processes through standardization. By switching to digital work instructions, you gain a powerful tool for making your employees’ knowledge visible. Unlock the full potential of your work instructions.
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