Lose the Paper Weight with Digital Work Instructions

This article was originally published on June 16, 2025 on Automationworld.com. 

Paper-based work instructions have long been the standard for guiding shop floor processes. But today’s production environments demand speed, precision and traceability, which means that clinging to analog methods can create more problems than benefits.

The real expense of paper runs deep — lost labor hours, compliance risks, error-prone execution and audit challenges. Digital work instructions offer an opportunity to move beyond each of these issues with a fast, measurable return on investment (ROI). Here’s how:

#1: Labor — Every time a manufacturing process changes, paper instructions need to be revised, printed and distributed. This is time-consuming and prone to miscommunication, especially in factories managing multiple shifts, processing a high product mix or having frequent engineering changes.

#2 Compliance — Regulatory and customer audits are high-stakes events. If operators work from outdated instructions or if a paper trail is incomplete, even minor gaps can escalate into major issues.

#3 Errors — Paper-based processes leave too much to chance. Operators may misread instructions, skip steps, or rely on memory, especially when documentation is unclear or outdated. This opens the door to… Read the Complete Article in Automationworld.com