Why digitalize work orders?

Despite all tools for digitalization and automatization of business, work orders remain one of the segments which resist the pressures and continue to be done in a rather “old-fashioned” way. Most companies still use printed work orders which brings a lot of risks. Some of those risks are damage and loss of work orders resulting in delays in meeting deadlines that can be rather costly for a company. In addition, printed work orders are very inefficient, especially in larger production facilities where the distribution of orders takes a long time, and money, considering that most companies hire additional personnel to be in charge of that task.

Such problems can completely be eliminated by implementing digital work orders and automating the process. In Toscana, all production processes, including the work orders, are automated. Each production employee can access digital work orders through a tablet/PC and get all the necessary information. Once issued, the work order immediately ends up in production and all modifications on that work order are visible in real time.

In the next paragraphs, we will mention and explain some of the advantages of using digital work orders.

Increased efficiency

Digital work orders are available in production instantly after they have been created. As opposed to printed work orders that have to be carried into production and delivered to each employee or department, digital work orders are put on that employee’s list immediately. This is especially useful for employees in the field who often work outside of production. All modifications or notes on the work order will instantly be visible to everyone, which reduces the risk of human error. This significantly reduces the time needed to finish a work order because there is no need for additional communication as all information needed can be found in the order. Also, as we mentioned before, digital work orders cannot be damaged or lost like printed ones which prevents delays in project delivery.

Always clearly written work orders

Someone else’s handwriting is often difficult to read which can lead to large errors in production that can be quite costly. Notes written on the work orders are crucial for the project itself and it is important that everyone can read and understand them. Using digital work orders, this risk is completely eliminated.

Integration of processes in production and transparency

Printing companies lose a lot of time due to miscommunication. Production employees sometimes forget to convey all details related to the project (e.g., additional material needed to create the project) and that leads to a negative balance at the end of the project. This is why it is important for all processes to be integrated and that all necessary information is available to everyone in real-time.

Considering the example mentioned above, if employees had digital work orders, the production manager could instantly see that more material was needed, and they could react to it and add it to the final calculation. All production processes are shown in real time so everyone can see in what production phase a certain product is, how much time and material were spent, and the employee responsible for that order. This enables very precise analytics through which you can monitor real performance achieved in a certain period.

Even though most printing companies are still skeptical about implementing digital work orders, there seems to be no valid reason to still keep using printed work orders. Besides the savings you would make from using less paper, there are many other benefits that will significantly facilitate running your business and enable more time to focus on clients and the growth of the company.