Checklists are omnipresent in industry: during the commissioning of machines, in maintenance and servicing, for quality controls in production or in technical service. But while industrial production has developed dramatically in recent decades - Industry 4.0, IoT, predictive maintenance - many companies are still stuck in the past when it comes to creating and using checklists.
The checklist - an underestimated tool
Checklists are one of the oldest and most proven tools for process control. Whether in aviation, medicine or industry, they ensure that critical steps are not forgotten, standards are adhered to and errors are minimized. In his bestseller "The Checklist Manifesto", surgeon Atul Gawande impressively describes how even simple checklists can save lives in complex environments.
Checklists are ubiquitous in industry: in the commissioning of machines, in maintenance and servicing, in quality controls in production or in technical service. But while industrial production has developed dramatically in recent decades - Industry 4.0, IoT, predictive maintenance - many companies are still stuck in the past when it comes to creating and using checklists.
Excel spreadsheets, Word documents or even printed paper forms still dominate everyday working life in many places. The question that decision-makers need to ask themselves today is: Is this still up to date? And more importantly, what opportunities are companies missing out on by sticking to static solutions?
Document-based checklists, a relic?
Document-based checklists are fixed in their basic structure and offer little to no interactivity or adaptability. The classic representatives are
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Paper-based checklists: Printed forms that are filled out by hand.
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Excel spreadsheets: Spreadsheets with predefined fields to check off.
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Word documents: Text documents with checkbox fields.
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PDF forms: Digital documents with limited input options.
These solutions are justified and offer a number of advantages:
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Low barrier to entry and low initial costs.
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Familiar tools that require no training.
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Full control over format and design.
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Offline availability (especially for paper).
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Quick creation for simple use cases.
For very simple, rarely used checklists with few steps and no need for tracking, static solutions can be perfectly adequate. However, as soon as the requirements increase, fundamental weaknesses quickly become apparent.
The limits of Excel and co. in an industrial context
1 | Lack of dynamics and context dependency
Industrial processes are rarely linear. A maintenance checklist for a production plant may require different steps depending on the machine type, operating hours, last maintenance interval or errors that have occurred. In Excel, a technician would either have to maintain several different lists or skip over irrelevant points - both error-prone and inefficient.
Practical example: When commissioning a system, different components have to be checked depending on the configuration. A static list either contains all possible points (which is too confusing and leads to confusion) or must be created separately for each configuration (which multiplies the maintenance effort).
2 | Media breaks and data silos
The typical workflow with document-based checklists often looks like this: An Excel list is printed out, filled in by the technician on site, later scanned back in or manually transferred to a system. Each of these steps harbors sources of error and costs time. The recorded data initially ends up in isolated files on different drives - a systematic evaluation is only possible with increased effort. According to a study by McKinsey, employees in industry spend an average of 19 percent of their working time searching for information. Media disruptions exacerbate this problem considerably.
3 | No integration of additional in
What should a technician do if they are unsure about a checklist item? With a paper or Excel checklist, they have to leave the document, search for instructions in another system or ask a colleague. This context switching not only costs time, but also increases the risk of steps being carried out incorrectly or incompletely.
4 | Lack of traceability and compliance
In regulated industries, complete documentation of processes is not optional, but mandatory. Who carried out which step and when? Have all the prescribed tests been completed? This is difficult to prove with static checklists. Handwritten signatures on paper or manually entered time stamps in Excel do not provide audit-proof documentation.
5 | Version chaos and update problems
As soon as a checklist needs to be updated - whether due to new regulations, changes to processes or suggestions for improvement from the field - the chaos begins. Which version is the current one? Have all copies been updated? Are all locations working with the same list? With static solutions, version control is a manual, error-prone process.
6 | No real-time overview for management
Managers who want to know how much maintenance has been completed, where there are delays or which recurring problems are occurring are faced with a mountain of paper or scattered Excel files. A real-time overview or even automated reports are practically impossible with static checklists.
