The repeatability of operations is one of the success factors for plants wishing to improve their competitiveness and the quality of their products. Operators must be able to reproduce the same actions to ensure the conformity of parts and avoid returns and non-conformities. This concept is of paramount importance in factories because it improves profitability and optimizes the use of resources in order to produce better. The use of digital industrial documentation results in better reproducibility and repeatability.
How can factories guarantee the repeatability of the operations carried out by the operators?
1. What is repeatability?
Repeatability is a concept that can concern machines or people and quantifies the ability to reproduce the same actions in order to ensure product fidelity to standards. Repeatability applies to measurements, calibrations, quality controls or any other intervention leading to the conformity of actions and products.
A well-defined process and precise and clear work instructions are the main factors for successful repeatability in the industrial environment. Operators must therefore fully understand and apply the work instructions to ensure the repeatability of their actions.
2. Issues affecting repeatability
Like any human intervention, the repeatability of actions can suffer from the following problems.
Here are the main causes:
Turnover: this is one of the main problems encountered in the industry. In fact, when employees leave, it can cause variability in the operations carried out. This is aggravated by poor transfer of know-how. The implementation of a knowledge sharing system could remedy this problem.
Drifts: misinterpretations of the process and drifts cause anomalies in the actions carried out by operators. The main objective of defining a process is to ensure the repeatability of operations and the conformity of products to standards.
Machine failures: poor maintenance or poor planning of preventive or corrective maintenance interventions can cause failures at the calibration and calibration level, thus altering the repeatability of operations.
Failure to check documents: operating procedures and work instructions define the way in which operators must carry out their actions. They must therefore be consulted to ensure the repeatability of operations. Non-consultation of documents can have many causes. Obsolete documents are, for example, very rarely consulted. In fact, paper documents are no longer compatible with a changing industrial environment. They quickly become obsolete, leading to misunderstandings and bad interventions.
The lack of documents: industrial documentation ensuring the organization of work in factories must be accessible at the right time to ensure the repeatability of operations and the smooth running of operators. The latter must therefore have instant access to the documents they need to carry out their tasks properly. The digital format is therefore perfectly suited to this purpose.
Training: Training employees in work instructions and calibration requires investment of resources and time to ensure compliance.
3. Providing the right information at the right time, in the right place and to the right people
To ensure repeatability of operations, operators must have access to the right information at the right time. Since the information is included in the work instructions, the work instructions must be accessible.
The paper format is becoming more and more incompatible with an industry that wants to be connected and at the cutting edge of technology. The digitalization of work instructions and industrial documentation is the solution to ensure the accessibility of information.
Picomto offers a software solution for the digitization of work instructions that allows manufacturers to optimize the repeatability of operations and product fidelity.
By going through digital work instructions, operators can have immediate access to updated, understandable and easy to apply documents.
4. Provide clear, understandable and up-to-date information
In a highly competitive and rapidly changing digital world, industrial companies must opt for innovative solutions that provide operators with the right information to ensure repeatable operations.
Text format has many limitations when it comes to understanding and reproducing exact actions. That’s why Picomto offers interactive formats that are more accessible and understandable, allowing operators to better master work instructions and apply them with high fidelity.
Annotated images and augmented reality are solutions that are increasingly used in tomorrow’s factories to ensure compliance with work instructions. Work instructions in this format are no longer subject to interpretation and are applied to the letter, ensuring the repeatability of operations and product conformity.
In addition to the repeatability of operations, compliance with work instructions ensures the conformity of the parts produced and therefore reduces returns and non-conformities that cause loss of turnover for companies.
Conclusion
Picomto provides a digital work instruction solution that allows you to give the same information to the right person(s) at the right time. Clear, precise and understandable work instructions ensure better process repeatability, as operators all access the same instruction that is updated according to the latest standards and practices.
By ensuring the repeatability of operations, the industrial company can guarantee the profitability of its activity by eliminating the waste of time, resources and raw materials related to the return of non-conformities. In addition, operators who have access to digital work instructions are more productive because they will have immediate access to everything they need to carry out their tasks in the best conditions and in the best way..
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