Work Instructions in Other Apps

You order work instructions within an operation. For example, you warn workers about a hazard before asking them to perform a task. Copying work instructions from one operation to another on the tree can affect or destroy the ordering you have specified within Work Instructions.

In Process Planning, you can make changes (such as copying and pasting a work instruction from one operation to another) to the ordering of work instructions. These changes affect Work Instructions functions when you next open the app.

If you have disrupted the linear precedence of work instructions outside of the Work Instructions app, when you next open the system in the app, a warning appears:

Work Instruction reordering has been disabled due to the detection of an existing invalid sequence.

Do not use drag-and-drop reordering when this sequence error exists. To fix the precedence, open an app that gives you access to the Gantt chart, and use Create Precedence Link to re-establish linear precedence.

If a general operation has no children or only the work instruction children, you can add work instructions. If a general operation has work instruction children, other apps, such as Process Planning, do not allow you to add nonwork instruction children to the operation.

You can plan work instructions independently of resource planning. In some cases, you plan resources first.

You can create work instructions before resource planning. Work instructions are for tasks performed by humans. The task specification (and, therefore, the time specified for the task) is independent of the additional resources required for the task. Examples of work instructions independent of the resources include:

• Insert one product into another.
• Clean a surface before drilling a hole.
• Put a part into an oven for curing at 425 deg for 30 minutes. In this case, the resource is an oven, which is presumably already present.

Work instructions infrequently depend on adding resources (for example, putting a part into a fixture and clamping down the part). In this case, the time for the instructions depends on the type of fixture used. In such cases, do resource planning before using Work Instructions.