The Background
"The paper work instruction process consisted of work orders that could be hundreds of pages long and varied in granularity."
General Dynamics Electric Boat, a separate General Dynamics business unit, connected with our User Experience organization because they wanted to optimize the process of Submarine Building. Traditionally this process has relied entirely on paper instruction. Unfortunately, these work instruction packages were 60-200+ pages long, were costly to produce, difficult to version control, and had no consistent method of tracking revisions efficiently.
· EB required a tablet-based app for shipyard tradespersons to streamline submarine building.
· Impact to 10,000+ tradesperson workforce on a daily basis
· Impact to 10,000+ tradesperson workforce on a daily basis
THE OBJECTIVE
The proposed solution aims to improve the efficiency of work completion and distribution by replacing the paper-based process with a tablet-based software application. This application will digitize the paper instructions and replace multiple pages of text and engineering drawings with a single operation showing only the necessary data and 3D graphics required to complete each task.
THE CHALLENGE
This job was complex. The paper-based work packages would have many pages of step-by-step instructions. A 20-hour work package typically consisted of around 60 pages. The tradesperson would often have to jump back and forth within the packet, referencing information on the first page for context against the additional step.
Our Process
UX phases and methods used throughout this project to craft a great user experience
FINAL DESIGN
Every work package (also known as work order) has a standard view that enables a tradesperson to navigate through a sequence of operations and relevant information linked with those operations. The left and right panels can be easily hidden or shown with a single tap to prioritize the view.