Lean Manufacturing Blog / Digital Work Instructions

The underappreciated impact of part picking and kitting solutions The process of kitting—gathering the parts, products, or materials together (into a “kit”) that an operator needs to complete a task …

Traditionally, manufacturing training processes and protocols are a cost- and labor-intensive proposition that requires painstaking repetition and oversight for operators to master. The conventional method is to assign an experienced …

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are an integral piece of the operational puzzle in any manufacturing environment. They provide the step-by-step procedural guidance and support that enables operators to do their …

Poka-yoke is a Japanese term for mistake-proofing, derived from the Japanese words yokeru (avoid) and poka (mistakes). Famously popularized by the influential Toyota Production System, poka-yoke refers to any mechanism …

For sports fans, trust the process is a familiar phrase that has been popularized in recent years as a kind of tongue-in-cheek nod to the long-term team-building strategy of the …

How to upskill employees with digital work instructions Digital work instructions are an integral feature in the connected process control solutions that are transforming factories and making production environments more …

Boost new efficiencies, enhance operational excellence, and improve quality. Often in industry there are inherent tensions between complexity and simplicity, sophistication and clarity, and customization and standardization. Tools and technologies …

When production operators work the pack-out stations, I consider that to be one of the most crucial check points for your parts. If you think about it, those operators are …

Some people might say that the tried and true method of training new operators is to have them shadow a veteran employee. But what if there's no one with the …

For decades—even generations—innovators in manufacturing have worked hard to find ways to minimize the chaos and complexity of manufacturing and production environments. While new technologies have unlocked impressive new advances …