SC QUALITY GUILDWork instruction and SOP
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Write the instruction step by step with the key point and reason for each, and keep it under control with a number, revision, approval and history.
ON THE EXAM · CSSYB V.B.3, V.B.4 · FREE · NOTHING YOU TYPE LEAVES YOUR BROWSER
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Procedure, SOP, work instruction
The terms overlap and organizations use them differently. Broadly, a procedure describes a process: who does what, in what order, across functions. A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a detailed procedure for a routine activity. A work instruction is the most detailed: how one person does one task at one station. This template suits all three.
Steps, key points and reasons
The step layout comes from the job breakdown used in Training Within Industry. Each step is one action, starting with a verb. The key point is what makes the step right: the thing that, done wrong, causes a defect or an injury, or the knack that makes it easier. The reason says why. Reasons are what people remember and what stop them from taking shortcuts.
Not every step needs a key point. The steps where defects happen always do.
Document control
A controlled document carries a number, a revision, an owner, an approver, an effective date and a history of what changed. Those are what let the person at the station trust that the copy in front of them is current. Document control is how changes are reviewed, approved, released and communicated, and how obsolete copies are removed. The tool flags a missing control field, a current revision with no history entry, and a review date that has passed.
In the Control phase, updating the work instructions is how an improvement becomes the normal way of working. If the change is not in the instruction, it will drift back.
On the Yellow Belt exam
Document control (V.B.3) and work instructions and SOPs (V.B.4) are in the 2022 CSSYB Body of Knowledge.