Digital Work Instructions: What They Are and Why Your Plant Needs Them

What they are, exactly

They are standard operating procedures (SOPs) presented visually and interactively, step by step, with images, video or augmented reality, that the operator consults while performing the task. Unlike the PDF sitting in a shared folder, they live where the work happens and they log their own use.

Measurable results

With GIRI, our ISO-compliant digital work instructions platform, industrial clients report:

• 62.3% reduction in operational errors by following visual step-by-step guides.
• US$1.5 million recovered per year through efficiency and knowledge retention in a plant of 250 employees.
• 37% savings versus traditional training and documentation methods.

A real case: 100% versus 11%

In 2024 we ran an A/B test at 2 plants of a global auto parts manufacturer, in 2 countries: group A worked with GIRI and group B with the traditional paper binder. The result at the Kentucky plant: 100% of the team using GIRI reported feeling capable of performing their activity, against 11% of the binder group (n=20). At the Nuevo León plant, 87% against 33% (n=24). At both plants the line leaders reported less trainer intervention and fewer errors. The timed figure from the pilot: creating ten work instructions went from 125 to 45 hours at one plant and from 170 to 60 at the other.

The context explains it: a typical plant accumulates more than 1,200 documents across standard operation sheets, visual aids and part-number forms, and each process sheet costs an engineer 3 to 4 hours. Keeping that up to date on paper is impossible.

Want to know what it would mean in your operation? Run the numbers in the GIRI ROI calculator, with versions for manufacturing, aviation and mining.

Signs your plant needs them

• The same procedure is executed differently depending on the shift or the person.
• A new operator's learning curve is measured in months.
• Critical knowledge lives in the heads of two or three veterans.
• ISO audits consume weeks gathering scattered evidence.

Security and deployment

GIRI can be hosted in the cloud (Germany, EU, United States or China) or fully on-premise at your facilities. Its developer, AR-Experts, builds it under an ISO/IEC 27001 certified information security management system. And if your operation demands working without internet, our training ecosystem runs 100% offline with Fyware Hub. And when a procedure requires practice before touching the real equipment, virtual reality training covers the other half of the problem.

One sector where this pays off especially fast: digital work instructions and VR in mining.

Where you first notice that the knowledge lives in one person's head: the plant's manufacturing skills matrix.

And in maintenance, where the procedure does not change but the person who knows it is not always in: the maintenance procedure exists, whoever does it is out today.

Frequently asked questions

What are digital work instructions?

They are standard operating procedures presented visually and interactively, step by step, that the operator consults at the workstation while executing the task. Unlike a PDF in a shared folder, they live where the work happens, are updated in one place, and log their use.

How is a visual digital SOP different from the PDF we already have on the intranet?

The PDF is a document someone has to go find, and nobody knows if they opened the current version. A visual digital SOP is presented step by step on the operator's device, always in its latest version, and records who executed it and when.

Our plant has more than 1,200 documents. Where do we start?

Not by digitizing everything. You pick a part-number family or a line where errors cost the most, convert those procedures first, and measure the result against the current method. That number decides what to scale.

Does it work without internet or without the cloud?

Yes. GIRI can be hosted fully on-premise at your facilities. Its developer, AR-Experts, builds it under an ISO/IEC 27001 certified information security management system. And when the operation demands working offline, our training ecosystem runs 100% without internet with Fyware Hub.

How do I document a maintenance procedure so a new technician can execute it alone?

By capturing it once as a digital work instruction: visual steps with photos, video, and warnings, available on a phone next to the equipment. The experienced technician's knowledge gets documented, and whoever arrives new executes step by step without depending on someone shadowing them. With GIRI's AI authoring (in beta) you can start from the PDF or video you already have.