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Visual Inspections: The Unsung Hero of Quality Control

The realm of quality control is teeming with jargon and technicalities, but at its core is one critical process that often receives far less attention than it deserves: the humble visual inspection.

What Is Visual Inspection?

At its heart, visual inspection is an observation-based assessment method. It’s a form of non-destructive testing (NDT), which means it allows inspectors to evaluate products and equipment without inducing any permanent alterations or damage (which is the domain of destructive testing methods).

In its most basic form, visual inspection relies only on the human eye and the keen sense of observation and intuition of the person performing the inspection. But because the human eye is in many ways limited, most real-world inspection techniques rely on specialized equipment, such as magnifying glasses, microscopes, or infrared cameras, to explore areas not easily visible.

Visual inspections are commonly performed by:

• Maintenance technicians: These professionals regularly conduct visual inspections of equipment and machinery as part of their preventative maintenance routines.

• Quality control inspectors: In manufacturing, quality control inspectors are specialized professionals who examine products to ensure they meet specified standards.

• Assembly line workers: Serving as the first line of defense against defects in the manufacturing process, assembly line workers perform basic visual inspections on each item that passes through their station.

In the era of technology, it’s not uncommon to utilize remote visual inspection methods in certain circumstances. These methods allow for visual inspections to be conducted in areas that are difficult, hazardous, or impossible for a person to access directly. Examples include inspections of pipelines, large machinery, or confined spaces.

What Is the Goal of Visual Inspection?

Regardless of who performs the visual inspection procedure, its goals are always similar, and they include:

• Identifying defects: This is the primary goal of any inspection. By observing a product, machine, or structure, inspectors can identify visible defects that may affect performance or safety.

• Assessing condition: Visual inspections provide a snapshot of the overall condition of a system or object. This can include determining wear and tear on a machine, evaluating the condition of a building’s exterior, or assessing a finished product’s quality.

• Ensuring compliance: In many industries, products and procedures have to meet certain standards or regulations. Visual inspections are often used to ensure these standards are being met.

• Enhancing safety: Safety is paramount in virtually every industry, and visual inspections play a crucial role in maintaining it. By identifying faulty equipment and other potential hazards, visual inspections help to create a safer working environment.

• Reducing costs: When issues are proactively identified and addressed early on, it’s often possible to prevent more serious, and consequently more expensive, problems down the line.

How to Standardize Visual Inspections?

While the task of standardizing visual inspections may seem challenging due to their subjective nature, it’s a journey well worth embarking on because consistency is key to maintaining quality control and ensuring safety.

The creation of standard visual inspection procedures makes sense for all inspections that take multiple steps to complete, such as those involving complex equipment. Of course, it’s not necessary to document basic visual inspections that take just a few moments to complete and are performed over and over again.

When standardizing visual inspections, it’s a good idea to follow these key steps:

1. Identify all assets that require inspection. Start by creating a list of all assets that need regular visual inspection. Don’t underestimate the importance of this step. You don’t want to miss an important piece of equipment that might fall into disrepair or cause a safety issue if not regularly monitored.

2. Define which criteria trigger an inspection. Specify what factors or conditions should trigger an inspection. This might include regular intervals (e.g., daily, monthly), after specific events (e.g., after equipment usage or post-assembly), or in response to identified issues (e.g., following a system malfunction).

3. Establish clear defect guidelines. It’s important to provide clear criteria for what constitutes a defect. Visual guides, photographs, and descriptions can all be used to assist visual inspectors in making accurate and consistent assessments.

4. Create standard visual inspection procedures. Develop clear, step-by-step procedures that inspectors should follow during a visual inspection. This could include directions on using specific inspection equipment, how to approach different areas of the asset, and how to document and report findings.

5. Integrate visual inspections into maintenance routines. Make visual inspection a core part of your regular maintenance procedures. This could be as simple as adding inspection tasks to your existing maintenance checklists, but there are modern digital solutions that can be used to automate scheduling, issue reminders for inspections, and facilitate more efficient documentation and tracking of inspection results.

One such solution is ROO.AI, a next-generation visual inspection platform that shows workers exactly what to do and when they need to do it.

Enhanced Visual Inspections With ROO.AI

ROO.AI makes it easy to integrate visual inspections into maintenance routines thanks to its unique visual, data-driven approach that’s designed from the ground up to be intuitive, efficient, and mobile-native.

Instead of sifting through endless manuals or trying to recall the specifics of a training session, technicians can simply use ROO.AI to navigate standard visual inspection procedures right on their mobile devices.

ROO.AI provides guided assistance to ensure process standards are adhered to, and it collects valuable data that can be used to further enhance quality control processes.

When a technician empowered with ROO.AI identifies an issue, they can take immediate corrective action on the spot, ensuring the issue is addressed swiftly and thereby reducing downtime and potential subsequent damage.

In essence, ROO.AI brings visual inspections to the 21st century by harnessing the power of digital technology and intuitive design.

Author

David Morelo

David Morelo is a professional content writer at ROO.AI specializing in technology and digital transformation topics.

SOP for Manufacturing: The Blueprint for Consistency and Quality Control

In the world of manufacturing, achieving operational excellence and maintaining quality control is a continuous endeavor. One of the keys to success in this journey is the implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

SOPs in manufacturing are more than just sets of instructions; they are a strategic approach to ensure consistency, streamline operations, and uphold the highest standards of health and safety in the industry.

Let’s delve into the importance of SOPs, their role in the manufacturing process, and how digitized SOPs are revolutionizing manufacturing operations. But first, we need to define what an SOP in manufacturing is.

What Is an SOP in Manufacturing?

An SOP in manufacturing, or a Standard Operating Procedure, is a detailed, written set of procedures that guides the step-by-step execution of a specific task or operation within a manufacturing environment.

You can think of an SOP as a blueprint that ensures each employee performs their specific tasks consistently, reducing variability, enhancing quality control, and ultimately, contributing to the overarching goal of operational excellence.

Why SOPs in Manufacturing Are Essential for Operational Excellence

SOPs in manufacturing offer so many benefits that they are no longer optional. Instead, they are a fundamental necessity for achieving operational excellence.

Here are some of the most important benefits that manufacturers can unlock:

Streamline operations: An SOP in manufacturing serves as a guide, providing a clear and concise step-by-step procedure to accomplish specific tasks. This prevents confusion, reduces questions, and ultimately leads to improved operational flow and reduced downtime.
Improve consistency: Consistency is key in manufacturing. By clearly defining the method and process for each task, SOPs ensure that operations are carried out uniformly, regardless of who performs the task. This uniformity guarantees that the product quality remains consistent, enhancing customer satisfaction and trust.
Reduce waste: By specifying the exact process and quantities required for each operation, SOPs minimize the chances of errors and rework, effectively reducing waste. This not only saves resources but also contributes to environmental sustainability.
Increase efficiency: A well-written SOP manufacturing process acts as a roadmap for team members, clearly outlining roles and responsibilities, reducing the time taken to train new employees, and allowing for a smoother transition of roles within the team. This leads to an increase in efficiency and productivity.
Quick identification and correction of issues: SOPs provide a clear framework for identifying when things go wrong. By comparing the actual performance with the SOP, team members can quickly detect deviations and correct issues, leading to faster resolution times and improved productivity.
Regulatory compliance: Manufacturing industries often have to adhere to stringent regulatory standards. Comprehensive SOPs can help ensure that all operations are compliant with local, state, national, or even international regulations, thus avoiding legal complications and penalties.

In essence, effective SOPs can transform a complicated maze of operations into a well-oiled machine, and there is no shortage of real-world case studies that underscore this point.

SOP Manufacturing Process Case Study: Molson Coors

One of the most compelling examples of the transformative power of SOPs in manufacturing can be observed in the actions of Molson Coors, a Canadian-American brewing giant. With a complex supply chain and numerous tasks to manage at each stage, the company saw an opportunity for optimization: implementing effective SOPs.

Over time, Molson Coors implemented SOPs across all their facilities and into every stage of the manufacturing process, from the initial brewing to the final packaging.

As a result of implementing SOPs, Molson Coors reported a significant reduction in quality-related issues and lost-time incidents. Specifically, the company saw a 33% reduction in lost-time incidents and a 50% reduction in quality-related issues. The SOPs allowed for quick identification and correction of issues, leading to faster resolution times, improved productivity, and, ultimately, improved bottom line.

The Modern SOP: Digitized SOPs in Manufacturing

Traditionally, SOPs were paper-based documents, but with advancements in technology, we are witnessing a shift toward digitized SOPs. Such SOPs present information in an easy-to-digest format, which can significantly improve the employee’s comprehension and reduce the chances of misinterpretations or mistakes.

One platform that’s leading the charge in this digital transformation of SOPs is ROO.AI, whose functionality includes:

Real-time data collection and analysis: By integrating with the existing systems, ROO.AI collects and analyzes data in real time, providing valuable insights for continuous improvement.
Collaboration: The platform encourages employees to share their insights and ideas, enhancing the work process and eliminating waste.
Change tracking: ROO.AI provides a system for tracking and implementing proposed changes, ensuring that the SOP manufacturing process remains current and effective.

As we move forward, tools like ROO.AI will continue to play a crucial role in transforming the manufacturing sector, driving efficiency, consistency, and quality in operations. Therefore, the adoption of digital SOPs in manufacturing should be a strategic priority for all manufacturing companies.

Author

David Morelo

David Morelo is a professional content writer at ROO.AI specializing in technology and digital transformation topics.

How to Create SOPs that Work for You?

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) play a crucial role in ensuring frontline work processes are performed consistently, safely, and efficiently, making it possible for businesses to deliver better products and services to their customers.

Yet, the usefulness of SOPs is often greatly undermined by the medium through which they are communicated: paper. That’s because traditional paper-based SOPs are plagued with issues, including difficulties in keeping them updated, the inability to dynamically include tribal knowledge or the ease with which they can be damaged and lost.

Additionally, paper-based SOPs don’t reflect the fact that people process visual information much faster than text. They force workers to read often lengthy descriptions of what to do instead of instantly showing them the same information using visual aids, such as videos, images, and diagrams.

SOP digitalization aims to overcome the limitations of delivering work instructions to the frontline on paper, but simply recreating paragraphs, checklists, and tables using a word processor isn’t sufficient since it leaves the issue of slow text processing by the human brain unaddressed.

Instead, businesses need to combine digital delivery with visual guidance. Visual SOPs that incorporate a variety of different visual aids and are presented in an interactive form using modern digital devices can improve comprehension, retention, and engagement among workers. By adopting this approach, businesses can create SOPs that are not only more effective but also more appealing and enjoyable for workers to use.

Roadmap for Creating Powerful Digital SOPs

The following roadmap provides a series of practical steps for creating visually-oriented digital SOPs that greatly outperform their paper-based counterparts, delivering so much value to frontline workers that their implementation never faces any resistance—quite the opposite.

1. Set Your Goals

The first step in creating powerful digital SOPs is to determine what you want to accomplish by identifying the tasks that could benefit from standardization. The chances are that you will identify multiple tasks, and we recommend you always start with the most repetitive ones because they have the most significant impact on the overall efficiency of your processes.

2. Define the Scope of the SOP

Next, you should define the scope of the SOP you’ve decided to start with. This involves identifying where the SOP will be used and who will use it. The goal here is to create more targeted and thus more relevant instructions.

3. Include Frontline Knowledge

To achieve the best results when creating digital SOPs, you need to involve as many relevant people as you can. Frontline workers are especially important because they are closest to the processes and have invaluable knowledge and insights that should always be included in SOPs.

4. Keep It Simple and Visual

Digital SOPs provide the opportunity to present information in a visually engaging manner, and it’s paramount not to let this opportunity go to waste. It’s estimated that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text, so businesses should skip long chunks of text and use images, videos, and even voice recordings to deliver the message instead.

5. Regularly Review and Update the SOP

Even the most well-thought-out digital SOPs don’t remain accurate forever because processes, technologies, and best practices are constantly evolving. This is why businesses should revisit their SOPs every 6 to 12 months and update them if necessary. Frontline workers should be invited to suggest how the SOPs they work with could be improved—not just during the regular reviews but on an ongoing basis.

Benefits of Digitalizing SOPs

Businesses that successfully digitalize their SOPs by following the roadmap above can unlock a number of important benefits, including:

Increased productivity: Even seasoned employees sometimes forget the exact steps they need to follow to perform specific tasks, leading to wasted time and decreased productivity. With digital SOPs, workers have immediate access to step-by-step instructions, so they can always be sure of how to proceed.
Cost savings: By reducing errors and minimizing downtime, digital SOPs can help businesses save costs. Real-time monitoring of the completion of digitalized SOPs and analysis of gathered data can help identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies to further optimize workflows and cut down on unnecessary spending.
Greater accuracy: Clear visual guidance provided by digital SOPs can help employees avoid mistakes and perform tasks with a high level of accuracy. This, in turn, can help improve the quality of products and services, increasing customer satisfaction and enhancing the company’s reputation.
Improved safety: Digitalizing SOPs can significantly enhance safety by providing frontline workers with easy access to safety procedures and real-time alerts that reflect the current equipment status and other useful information.
Shared knowledge: By effectively leveraging the knowledge of frontline workers and subject matter experts, digital SOPs help businesses continuously improve and innovate because past lessons never go to waste or, even worse, become forgotten.

These and other benefits are why moving away from paper should be a top priority of every business that relies on SOPs. The good news is that it’s never been easier to create powerful digital SOPs thanks to next-generation digital assistance solutions like ROO.AI.

Conclusion

Even in our digital age, many businesses still rely on mostly text-based SOPs documented on paper. Such SOPs don’t take full advantage of the large part of the human brain that is directly or indirectly devoted to processing visual information. Digital SOPs provide a modern alternative, but not all of them are created equal. To fully benefit from SOP digitalization, businesses need to follow the best practices described in this article instead of simply recreating the same old plaintext SOPs using a digital medium.

Author

David Morelo

David Morelo is a professional content writer at ROO.AI specializing in technology and digital transformation topics.

Connected Workers: What’s the Point?

As manufacturing companies strive for increased productivity and efficiency, their frontline workers are becoming challenged by the need to learn new technologies, equipment, and work processes. The constant pressure to adapt to new ways of working is further complicated by the fact that experienced workers are retiring and attracting new workers is difficult.

With nearly one-quarter of the sector’s workforce now being over the age of 55, according to a study published by The Manufacturing Institute, it’s no wonder that 78 percent of manufacturing companies are somewhat or very concerned about the future.

To overcome the challenges created by today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape, many manufacturing companies are making investments in connecting their frontline workforce with digital technologies.

Unfortunately, the solutions being offered are not well suited to the problems they’re trying to address, including the nature of the workflows their frontline executes. Many software providers believe that simply providing connectivity and messaging solutions can solve their issues, but that’s not the case at all, which is why such efforts don’t move beyond the pilot phase in 65 percent of cases.

Understanding the Objectives of Frontline Digitalization

Before embarking on a digitalization project for their frontline workforce, manufacturing companies need to think about how to enable their workers with the equipment, information, and processes to achieve the best results possible.

By clearly defining the goals and objectives of the frontline digitalization project, companies can ensure that they are investing in the right technologies and solutions to meet the needs of their workers and their overall business.

A study by PWC describes three approaches to connecting workers that manufacturers frequently take:

Location-based: Typically used for access controls and safety applications. Connecting the workforce by tracking location can be done through mobile device GPS tracking, but it’s more commonly done with wearable devices. One example of how real-time location tracking can quickly identify personnel who may be out of compliance with safety rules is in a warehouse or distribution center. If the facility has established safety protocols that require workers to, for example, wear protective gear in certain areas, real-time location tracking can be used to monitor the location and movement of workers in the facility. If a worker is detected in an area where protective gear is required, but they are not wearing the required items, the system can alert the worker or even a supervisor in real time.
Information-based: This application of connectivity leverages mobile devices to provide the workforce with easier access to information such as corporate web pages, manuals, or equipment readings. For example, many first-generation connected worker apps are used for training purposes, displaying static work instructions in the form of PDF files on portable digital devices like smartphones and tablets. While more convenient and easier to update than paper-based instructions, static work instructions leave a lot to be desired because they are not personalized and delivered at the right time, can’t collect data about workers, and don’t take advantage of device-specific features, such as push notifications and photo/video recording capabilities.
Interaction-based: This approach of workplace connectivity extends static information to dynamic information displayed based on each worker’s situation and environment to provide tailored support when and where it’s needed the most. Dynamic information can be used to guide workers in real time as they execute assigned tasks by displaying contextual step-by-step instructions or recommendations based on their actions, sensor data, and other circumstantial information. By providing workers with this type of dynamic, context-specific information, it becomes possible to support their decision-making and problem-solving in a more efficient and effective manner than with static information alone.

Each of the three above-described approaches to manufacturing connectivity has its place on the shop floor, but interaction-based connectivity provides the most effective answer for the challenges facing modern workers as manufacturers rapidly digitalize their processes and take advantage of increasingly sophisticated equipment.

The good news is that unlocking the benefits provided by interaction-based connectivity is now easier than ever before thanks to ROO.AI, a cutting-edge solution created to support modern manufacturing workers with information and instruction where, how, and when they need it.

Connecting Workers With ROO.AI

ROO.AI is pioneering a modern interaction-focused approach called Frontline Digital Automation, empowering frontline workers with the next generation in digital assistance.

In recent years, office workers have been utilizing AI and bots to automate processes they previously had to perform manually when interacting with computers. For example, customer service representatives might use a call management application and an issue reporting application, which required them to manually copy data between the two. But thanks to AI and bots, customer calls can now trigger automated processes that pull up all necessary customer information in the relevant applications and automatically enter the data where needed, streamlining the process and saving time.

ROO.AI is now bringing that same advanced technology to the frontline worker in the form of smart digital assistance. Frontline Digital Automation interacts with the worker to guide and assist them through a work process, facilitate the collection of data, and automate steps or data processing wherever possible. Guidance can be personalized based on worker experience, data from equipment or other sources, such as the weather forecast. For example, a field service process could be modified based on the current weather in a specific location.

Then ROO.AI takes the technology a step further. Unlike their colleagues in the office that work with a keyboard all day, frontline workers often find text and form-based interfaces cumbersome and poorly suited to their work processes. ROO.AI’s innovative, fully visual user interface is as familiar and intuitive as it is flexible and powerful, making it capable of meeting the needs of any manufacturing company. Manufacturers that take advantage of ROO.AI frontline digital automation technology can rapidly achieve the interaction-based workplace connectivity that is so necessary to ease the pressure put on frontline workers by digitalization.

Summary

Thanks to innovative digital technologies, manufacturing companies are becoming more productive and efficient. However, the same technologies are making the role of the frontline worker more challenging. Workplace connectivity can be implemented to empower workers to thrive on the modern shop floor, but only when it effectively supports the nature of the workflows executed by frontline workers by paving the way for frontline digital automation with solutions like ROO.AI.

Author

David Morelo

David Morelo is a professional content writer at ROO.AI specializing in technology and digital transformation topics.

Why Make Work Instructions Like Consumer Apps?

Work instructions are essential for ensuring that tasks are performed consistently and accurately within an organization, but their effectiveness can vary greatly depending not only on their content but also on their format.

To overcome the limitations of traditional paper-based work instructions, which are tedious to use, difficult to update, and impossible to track effectively, organizations should look to consumer apps for important learnings on how to deliver work instructions that are smart, interactive, visual, and readily available when needed.

Understanding the Consumer App Advantage

Most companies don’t realize that simply making work instructions available on mobile devices in the form of PDF files or some other static document file format isn’t enough.

Why? Because it doesn’t really deliver a significantly different experience for the frontline worker due in large part to poor usability, which leads to adoption issues. Together, usability and adoption, are among the top reasons why 65 percent of manufacturing companies get stuck in the pilot phase of their frontline connectivity projects, according to a McKinsey study.

In contrast, excellent usability is among the main reasons why consumer apps have become so widely adopted. Indeed, modern frontline workers now use their mobile devices for almost everything, from communication to online shopping to banking.

Here are four key lessons organizations can learn from consumer apps to make their digital work instruction more effective:

Consumer apps are intuitive and enjoyable to use. Consumer app designers have a 2-minute rule: if the app isn’t understood and usable within 2 minutes, it won’t get used. Based on this rule, workers should be able to open their instructions and immediately understand what to do and why. If they need answers to a question, they should be able to get them quickly. Attaching manuals and long PDF documents on a mobile device doesn’t satisfy the 2-minute rule—only interactive visual work instructions that reflect the way in which the human brain is designed to process information do.

Consumer apps are helpful and provide ongoing value. The most popular consumer apps are useful; they meet basic needs or deliver value better, faster, and easier; and they do it day after day. This is why they are used consistently. So if you want mobile work instructions to be used regularly instead of given one look and ignored, think about how to deliver ongoing value. How can the app be helpful to workers on a daily basis? How does it become something that they rely upon in the same way that office workers rely upon their platforms like Microsoft Office or Google Workspace?

Consumer apps take advantage of device-specific features. Today’s mobile users spend 90 percent of their online time in native apps. Such apps provide a more engaging experience by taking full advantage of native features. For example, push notifications can be used to deliver smart work instructions at the right time, while a built-in camera can be used to document task completion.

Consumer apps are personalized to each user. Unlike static documents, mobile apps can deliver personalized interactive work instructions that reflect the location, experience, and progress of each user. Organizations can easily experiment with different sets of instructions to determine which set is the most effective. While doing so, they can track user engagement and collect many other metrics to help them make informed changes to their instructions.

Appify Your Work Instructions With ROO.AI

Anyone can digitize paper-based work instructions to create forms with pictures or sharable PDF files that can be viewed on mobile devices. However, that’s not enough to capture the above-described consumer app advantage. To do that, work instructions need to be turned into an interactive mobile app with an intuitive visual interface to aid with comprehension and information retention. That’s where ROO.AI comes in.

ROO.AI is a next-generation digital platform designed to empower manufacturers and other organizations to create smart work instructions that show workers exactly what they need to do and when they need to do it.

Just like the most popular consumer apps today, ROO.AI boasts a fully visual user interface that reflects the latest design best practices to deliver an intuitive and accessible mobile-native user experience. Using ROO.AI, organizations can combine instruction with training, data collection, and messaging to deliver ongoing usefulness. What’s more, they can unlock frontline knowledge by collecting employee feedback and usage data right on the spot.

Conclusion

Frontline workers are already great at using mobile apps to get work done, so it makes sense to also use them for the delivery of work instructions. However, there’s a huge difference between using mobile devices as portable PDF readers and using them to provide workers with smart, interactive, and visual instructions delivered via a native mobile app. By incorporating the best practices of successful consumer apps with the breakthrough visualization and smart automation capabilities of ROO.AI, the digitalization of work instruction can be transformative for both the frontline workforce and the company.

Author

David Morelo

David Morelo is a professional content writer at ROO.AI specializing in technology and digital transformation topics.