Manufacturing Assembly Instructions; A Summary

A series of 13 experiments over a period of four years investigating various methods of presenting work instructions to employees is reported. It is concluded that the communication medium is very important and that different media affect both time and errors. Error rates can be cut to from one-third to one-tenth of existing rates while the associated assembly time is usually cut to one-half of the existing time. Four different assembly tasks were used. The number of subjects in each experiment ranged from 8 to 64. A wide variety of communication techniques such as a typed list of step-by-step instructions, three picture slides per assembly, one picture slide per assembly, a list with a place keeping device, audio, an ‘ information board ’, audio plus a list, slides plus audio, photographs, and models were used. The best medium is pictorial in which an operator can match a picture with the assembly to be built. Less desirable media are those (such as a typed step-by-step list of instructions) which requir...