Digital work instructions
Digital work instructions for assembly lines
Put each assembly step on a tablet at the station, with its photos, documents and limits. Operators work through one step at a time, and every result is saved against the unit they are building.
From paper traveler to tablet
Paper travelers and instruction binders fail in familiar ways. The binder at station 4 is two revisions old. A traveler goes missing. A reading is written down and nobody sees it until the unit fails at final test.
With factoryapps, the station tablet shows the published version of each step. The operator enters the reading, the server checks it against the limits, and a failed unit goes to rework with the reason on its record.
What a step can ask for
Each step carries its own photos and documents, and asks the operator for one kind of input.
Pass or fail
A visual check or a go/no-go gauge.
A reading with limits
A torque, a pressure or a dimension, checked against a minimum and a maximum.
A count
Screws fitted or parts placed, with a passing range.
A choice from a list
Which variant, which fixture, which color.
A serial or a lot
Scan the serial off the unit or assign the next one, or record the lot.
A photo or a note on failure
A failed step can require a photo or a note before the operator moves on.
Versions you can trust
Instructions are edited as a draft and published as a version. A published version is never changed, and every unit records the exact version it ran, so an audit can show what the operator was looking at.
A work instruction belongs to the operation, not the station. Move the rotor build to another bench and its steps move with it.
What the data shows
Because every step is recorded, you can see which step fails most, which station is slower at the same step, and how cycle time changes after you publish a new version. Any view exports to CSV.
Common questions
What are digital work instructions?
Assembly instructions shown on a screen at the workstation, one step at a time, in place of a printed traveler or binder. Each step can include photos, documents and a check the operator has to complete before moving on.
Which tablets work?
Any recent iPad or Android tablet with a web browser. Most floors use 10-inch tablets in kiosk mode.
What happens when we publish a new version mid-shift?
A running session keeps the version it started with, so a line never switches mid-run. The next session picks up the new version, and every unit records the version it ran.
Can operators work through a Wi-Fi drop?
The tablet retries when the connection drops and tells the operator about anything it couldn't save.
Do we need an MES to use digital work instructions?
factoryapps is both. The instructions run inside the same app that records each unit and reports first-pass yield, so there is no second system to connect.
Start with one line.
Join early access and we'll set up your first line with you.