Between paper and digital, it seems that it is more a question of the need for evolution than a choice strictly speaking. As the industry continues to shift towards digitization and dematerialization in many of its sectors, it is undeniable that paper-based media will be less and less used in the future. The operator’s working environment is not spared by this transition to digital, which brings profound upheavals in the way he carries out his daily tasks.
Digital tools, more convenient and faster for the operator
Digital tools for the industry are developed to facilitate the work of operators. They thus have less voluminous and more practical supports than traditional paper ones. Rather than flipping through a manual to find the information you need to complete a task, it is easier and faster to do so on a tablet by browsing through the topics or entering keywords. With a few clicks or keys, the operator gets the answer to his request and avoids wasting his precious working time.
Waste, in fact, is the worst enemy of productivity. Production management methods such as Lean lead the hunt for all forms of waste in order to achieve higher levels of performance.
But it is not only by facilitating access to working documents that digital platforms help the operator. As the latter is in direct contact with the machines, their handling and control is made easier thanks to the numerical controls and tactile interfaces they are equipped with.
Greater ease of data collection and analysis
The operator in charge of supervising production equipment benefits, through their digitization, from more reliable, efficient and responsive means of collecting and analyzing data relating to their operation.
The sensors that equip machines collect a variety of information related to their performance or degree of wear, for example. This makes it possible to schedule maintenance operations and readjustments, as operators can organize their work accordingly.
The possibility to update the supports
It is easier to update a digital document, thanks to basic computer manipulations (document editing), than to physically remove obsolete paper supports (including erroneous data) and replace them with others after correction.
In this way, the operator is almost certain to have the latest version of his document, and the risk of making mistakes by following instructions that include errors or approximations becomes less likely. Of course, this requires a high level of responsiveness on the part of the people in charge of these update operations. This also includes ensuring that the observations made by operators when handling the machines and any suggestions they may have for improving their performance are taken into account.
Corrective actions are taken to correct work instructions, safety instructions and various other aspects of the operator’s mission help to support continuous improvement within the company.
About Picomto
Picomto is the European leading software solution to create, manage, share and analyze work instructions and checklists in a visual and interactive way. Contact us to know more.
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