Key Takeaway
- Manufacturing SOPs are essential for ensuring consistency, quality, and regulatory compliance.
- Paper-based SOPs tend to get misplaced or damaged, are difficult to update, and are cumbersome for data collection and analysis.
- Digitizing SOPs using tools like GoAudits makes it easier to enforce standards and optimize operations. They facilitate SOP effectiveness measurement, improved data collection, and streamlined compliance management.
Manufacturing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) guarantee quality, reduce errors, and optimize productivity.
However, implementing them on the shop floor is challenging. How does one ensure all workers adhere to standard procedures, especially when operations are distributed across locations?
This blog post will delve into Standard Operating Procedures for Manufacturing, explaining their benefits, how to get started, and why digitizing SOPs is the best way of enforcing them.
SOP Meaning in Manufacturing: What is a Manufacturing SOP?
A Manufacturing Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), aka factory SOP, is a detailed step-by-step instruction document that outlines how to carry out tasks in the production process.
SOPs standardize and structure daily operational tasks, reducing errors, inconsistencies, and miscommunication. They enable workers to complete their jobs effectively while maintaining product quality and safety. Furthermore, SOPs help businesses comply with industry and regulatory standards, like ISO.
Benefits of Manufacturing Standard Operating Procedures
SOPs in manufacturing are more than just instructions. They provide a structure to operations and enforce reliability and predictability.
Here are the five key benefits of implementing SOPs in a manufacturing company:
- Standardization: Manufacturing SOPs ensure that workers complete tasks the same way across facility locations and production lines. This standardizes the operational processes and helps the training and onboarding of staff
- Improved Quality Assurance: By outlining every step, SOPs ensure consistency and reduce errors, resulting in products that meet quality standards.
- Regulatory Compliance: An SOP for a manufacturing company outlines steps to ensure the products and processes meet the regulatory and safety standards.
- Enhanced Accountability: Management can use SOPs as a standard to measure the worker’s performance, promoting accountability and fair assessments.
- Increased Productivity: Detailed Standard Operating Procedures train workers to complete their jobs correctly the first time. This translates to workers spending less time fixing errors, enhancing productivity on the shop floor.
SOPs for Manufacturing Company: Where to Start?
In creating Standard Operating Procedures for your manufacturing company, focus on core processes first. Identify areas critical to production, quality, and/or safety.
Look for tasks with high complexity or frequent errors. Gather existing knowledge from current SOPs, shopfloor expertise, and best practices. Craft clear instructions by defining the purpose of the SOP and outlining procedure steps in detail.
Before officially rolling out, ensure SOPs are available in an accessible format (preferably digital) to all workers on the shop floor.
Manufacturing SOP Examples & Checklists
Let’s learn about the key elements of manufacturing SOPs and how they work using an example: assembling a front driver’s side door for a specific car model.
Key Elements of an SOP for Assembling a Car Door
- Goal: Clearly define the purpose of the SOP. In this case, it’s to ensure consistent, high-quality car door assembly that meets safety standards.
- Scope: Specifies who the SOP applies to. Here, it is the production line workers assembling the front driver’s side doors for the car.
- References: Lists any external documents or regulations referenced in the SOP. The references could include parts lists, quality control checklists, and safety standards set by regulatory bodies.
- Procedures: As the name suggests, this outlines the step-by-step process. It’s broken down into sections, such as material preparations, sub-assembly integration, QC, packaging & labeling, etc.
- Revision History: Tracks changes made to the SOP over time, ensuring everyone uses the latest version.
- Attachments: Provides easy access to referenced documents like Bill of Materials (BOM) and Quality Control checklists.
How Manufacturing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) Work in a Car Door Assembly Line
In this case, the SOP guides workers per the daily production targets and ensures they have the correct parts. The SOP then takes them through a step-by-step process of assembling various sub-components into the door.
Quality checks are built into the process to catch any issues early on. Finally, the SOP ensures proper documentation of production numbers and any quality concerns that may arise. The focus on consistency and quality control throughout the assembly line helps car manufacturers build safe and reliable vehicles.
Free Manufacturing Standard Operating Procedure Templates
You can start with free manufacturing SOP templates, which can be used as-is or customized per your business standards. Here are some free manufacturing checklist templates to help you get started:
- Manufacturing Safety Audit Checklist
- Production Quality Control Checklist for Manufacturing
- Manufacturing Audit Checklist
- Process Safety Management Audit Checklist
- Supplier Self-Assessment Checklist
- GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices)
- New Miss Log
- Hot Work Permit Checklist
- Cold Work Permit Template
- Contract Permit to Work Checklist
Manufacturing Checklists: You can fully customize the above checklist templates or create your own with GoAudits’ 14-day FREE trial!
How Digital Manufacturing SOPs Enhance Efficiency?
Manufacturing SOPs offer several benefits; however, implementing them in a paper-based format is challenging. Firstly, paper SOPs are prone to get lost or damaged, creating confusion on the shop floor regarding the latest version.
Secondly, they are difficult to update to reflect changes in regulations, machinery, or best practices. You will be required to manually rewrite and distribute the new SOP document, a time-consuming and error-prone process.
Furthermore, analyzing data and trends is manual and laborious, limiting the scope for continuous improvement.
Here’s how digitizing SOPs through auditing software helps you overcome these challenges and unlocks a range of additional benefits.
Improved Accessibility and Consistency
Countless operations happen across production lines and factory sites. Therefore, it is essential to create SOPs that are easy to roll out, update, and accessible to all workers.
With a digital auditing app, you can create your own SOPs based on location, processes, products, etc., or use the existing templates.
Workers on the shop floor can access these manufacturing SOPs through an application on their mobile or tablet devices. Some digital tools like GoAudits, allow users to access and check-off items offline, thus facilitating SOP execution in plants in remote locations.
Digital SOPs are easy to update and ensure that changes get automatically synced for all users, ensuring everyone has the same SOP checklists. This consistency reduces errors and rework, leading to smoother production.
Training and Onboarding Tool
You can create digital manufacturing SOPs with multimedia elements like videos, images, etc.
For example, an SOP for assembling a product might include images showing the proper placement of components, connection methods, or use of specific tools.
Visual and interactive features will make SOPs engaging and easy to understand and adapt for new employees, accelerating the onboarding process and reducing the risk of mistakes due to knowledge gaps.
Measure the Effectiveness of SOPs for Production Processes
Measuring the effectiveness of SOPs and how well workers adhere to them in the factory can be a challenge.
With digital manufacturing SOPs, you can automatically assign a score to each checklist item, thus getting a quantifiable result that you can track over time.
Managers can study audit scores alongside SOPs and workers’ feedback to identify and address the areas of improvement. They can assign corrective actions or training programs and track their status in real-time.
👉 Pro Tip: With GoAudits, you can assign corrective actions and send reports to external parties, like contractors or vendors, for no extra charge.
» Get Started: Book a demo or start a 14-day free trial to explore GoAudits.
Improved Data Collection and Analytics
Paper SOPs cannot capture data on process execution. Identifying bottlenecks or inefficiencies relies on manual observation, which can be subjective.
Digital tools like GoAudits can generate detailed audit reports containing historical data and highlighting areas of concern.
Through the inspection dashboard, managers can analyze real-time data to pinpoint bottlenecks, optimize workflows, and identify areas for resource allocation.
Having digitized our analysis we can now easily see trends, which previously we weren’t looking for, except in gross cases. Now we’re able to get ahead of the trends before they become a gross non-conformance.
Katie Day, Quality Assurance and Metallurgy Manager, HTS
Enhanced Compliance
Manufacturing facilities must comply with various regulations. However, keeping track of non-compliances and resolutions becomes cumbersome with paper-based SOPs.
Digital SOP tools can be configured to include instructions on further steps in case of non-compliance. Some tools allow users to assign corrective actions directly through the mobile app.
They also offer a powerful dashboard through which the management can track the status of corrective measures and ensure their completion on time.
This simplifies compliance management and reduces the risk of violations.
Digitize SOPs for the Manufacturing Industry With GoAudits
GoAudits allows busy manufacturers to create, update, and monitor digital SOP checklists through inspection software.
Apart from creating digital manufacturing SOPs, GoAudits allows businesses to do the following:
- Enforce manufacturing standards across production line and facility locations
- Assess the effectiveness of manufacturing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
- Identify areas of improvement and highlight recurring issues and trends
- Ensure compliance with regulatory standards
- Facilitate communication between management and shopfloor workers
- Strengthen workplace safety and product and process quality control
With a rating of 4.8 stars on Capterra, GoAudits is trusted by some of the biggest names in the manufacturing industry.
» Customer Success Story: How businesses leverage GoAudits to save time and improve operations.
