Work Instructions: Doing It Right the First Time

In manufacturing, we transmit so much information by word-of-mouth Yes, we have training manuals and written procedures. Yet, these documents stay on the shelf most of the time. We fail to use them because operators find them hard to understand. This oral information transfer has a high error rate and is inefficient. We see increased training time, higher failure rates, more quality rejects, and field returns. By contrast, we can write documents that are so clear that operators can complete tasks properly the very first time. To write clear documents, we need to apply published research results in eye physiology and visual cognition. Documents created using these research results use about one-half of the words contained in typical documents. The sentence structure is very simple and can be understood by anyone with basic English skills. If necessary, we can translate them easily and accurately. This paper will explain the relevant research and give examples of how it applies to information transfer in manufacturing.