Why Digitize Abnormality Reports?

Andy Pritchard | April 25, 2022 | 5 min read

TABLE of contents

Abnormality reports are central to Operational Excellence because they provide staff with the ability to report and correct process abnormalities before they affect your customer's experience with your product or service.

When driving our own personal vehicles, we are often the first ones to notice that something is “off”. There is an unusual sound, odor, or vibration that tells us our car needs maintenance, often before the dashboard warning light turns on.

In a similar way, your associates spend more time with the machines than anyone and should be empowered to identify and correct abnormalities before they become major mechanical issues. Staff are also asked to provide details about the observation so that it can be prevented from reoccurring in the future.

Abnormality Reporting is a central concept to “World Class Manufacturing” and “Operational Excellence” methodologies. It involves the establishment of process standards, a way to report anomalies, corrective actions reporting and preventive action plans.
In practice, staff are trained on what the standard procedure should be and are asked to report any abnormality to that procedure. This information is reviewed by supervisors and tracked in trend analysis reports.

Usually, abnormalities are “corrected” immediately, in which case the operator provides some information about the correction. In some cases, supervisors may create an action plan to understand the root cause of the abnormality and prevent it from recurring. This usually follows a PDCA (Plan Do Check Act) or similar process. The ultimate result of this PDCA may be changes in Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), updates to documentation, and updates to CIL and Centerline requirements.

Weever specializes in digitizing operational workflows.

Efficient, intuitive, and rich data capture is the most critical factor in Operational Excellence. Data helps you understand what is happening, what needs to improve, and if improvements have worked.

However, using paper forms to manage abnormality reporting can create more issues than it solves. Digital tools are much more accessible and efficient than paper forms. They also allow for automation, which saves time and money and ensures the process is completed correctly every time.

Weever makes it easy to digitize operational forms and reports so you can experience the benefits of digitization today.

We work with organizations of all shapes and sizes who are frustrated with paper forms and spreadsheets. They want to save money, become more efficient, and spend their time more wisely. If that sounds like you, feel free to read on and get in touch.

Here are the top 10 reasons to digitize your abnormality reports.

Why digitize your abnormality reports?

BBSO observed behaviour conditional logic

1. Ensure staff do the job right with on-demand instructions and conditional logic

Provide staff with helpful content embedded directly into the form including videos, links to documentation, images, and text. Conditional logic allows you to guide staff through the experience to ensure they capture the correct information the first time and every time.

2. Create Schedules

If it isn't scheduled, it's probably not going to happen. Paper-based processes rely on staff to remember to do their job, while software can be used to remind with notifications based on a schedule.

3. Increased Accessibility

One problem that limits the performance of your operational programs can simply be the accessibility of the forms. Digitization allows staff to load the form on any device, go through it quickly and feel successful doing it.

4. Simple Customization

Have you ever created a form and then needed to make changes, which requires you to find and destroy all the copies of the old form, which still get submitted a year later. With digital form builders, updates happen in real-time so you don’t have to worry about staff using the wrong form.

5. Automate Rewards

Software makes it easy to allocate points to staff that can be redeemed in a rewards marketplace.

BBSO-digital-Data-capture---photo-capture

6. Photo Capture

Photo capture is perhaps the most immediate benefit of going paperless. Multiple photos can be captured in the report, complete with sketches to highlight the issue.

7. Real-time Communication

Should the observer require immediate help, digital forms provide a means to connect instantly with a supervisor.

safety audit checklist - real time communication template

safety audit checklist - optimize the evaluation process template

8. Optimize the Evaluation Process

Each submission creates a ticket that is organized in the appropriate digital folder. Supervisors can create action plans, assign them, and add due dates. Assignees are notified and supervisors are made aware of approaching and overdue deadlines.

inspection schedule on tv on production floor

9. Broadcast Results

Set up real-time updates that can be broadcast to staff that show how your operational programs are “moving the needle”.

10. Automate Real-Time Dashboard Updates

Save administrative time by automating reporting. Create stunning and highly configurable dashboard reports that are updated in real-time. Spend less time in front of spreadsheets and more time creating real value for your organization.