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Work instruction template and generator
A work instruction is a short, numbered description of how to do one job at one station: each step, the key point that makes it right and safe, the reason, and what to check. This free work instruction template has every field a shop-floor instruction needs and opens on a filled manufacturing example. Paste what your senior operator said (a chat export, a transcript or your notes) and it drafts the steps for you, with every number checked against what was said and the gaps listed as questions. Edit it, then download a PDF, print it, or get a blank template, with English or Spanish labels.
Updated October 21, 2026
What is a work instruction?
A work instruction tells one person how to do one task, step by step, at the place where the work happens: set up Lathe 6 for a part, change a die, run a first-piece check. It is written for the operator, not the auditor, so it uses the plant’s own words, starts each step with a verb and puts the numbers where the hands are. Most plants keep work instructions next to the machine on paper or a screen, and use them to train new people and to keep two shifts doing the job the same way.
The classic format comes from the Training Within Industry (TWI) Job Instruction method, taught to American supervisors during the Second World War: break the job into important steps, give each one its key points (what makes or breaks the job, keeps it safe or makes it easier) and the reason for each key point. The template below keeps that structure and adds what a modern plant needs: the spec to check, a photo box, first-piece checks and a sign-off.
Work instruction vs SOP vs setup sheet
| SOP (standard operating procedure) | Work instruction | Setup sheet | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers | What is done, by whom, and when | How to do one task, step by step | The settings for one part on one machine |
| Scope | A whole process, often several departments | One job at one station | One part number and operation |
| Written for | Managers, auditors, new staff | The operator doing the job | The setup person |
| Typical content | Purpose, scope, roles, records | Steps, key points, reasons, checks, photos | Program, tools, offsets, feeds, first-piece specs |
| Changes when | The process or a rule changes | A better or safer way is found | The part, the tooling or the program changes |
A manufacturing SOP template usually points to work instructions for the hands-on steps; the work instruction points to the setup sheet for the numbers. Many shops combine the last two, as the example below does.
What to include in a work instruction
Header: title, part, operation, machine or station, revision, author, who approved it and the date. Without a revision letter nobody knows which copy is current.
Safety and PPE: what to wear and what to lock out before the job starts. Hazardous energy control has its own OSHA rule (29 CFR 1910.147); the instruction should say where the machine’s lockout procedure is.
Tools and materials: the program, the tools by position, the material, gauges, and where spares are kept.
Numbered steps: one action per step, starting with a verb. Eight to fifteen steps is a good size; split a longer job into two instructions.
Key point for each step that has one: the knack, the safety point, the thing that ruins the part if you get it wrong.
Reason for each key point. Operators follow a rule they understand, and they spot when it no longer applies.
Check or spec: the number to hit, with its tolerance, and the gauge to use.
Photo or sketch where words are not enough: how the part sits in the fixture, which insert is the right one.
First-piece checks: what to measure, the spec, and a place to write the result and initials.
Sign-off: who wrote it, who approved it, and who has been trained on it.
Work instruction example: CVB-200 Op 10 setup on Lathe 6
This is the instruction the generator opens on, for the sample plant (a fictional 120-person machine shop making valve and pump parts). It was written from a conversation in which Dan, the senior setup operator, shows a new hire how to set up the CVB-200 check valve body on Lathe 6. Part: CVB-200 check valve body. Operation: Op 10, turning. Machine: Lathe 6, CNC lathe with bar feeder. Safety: Safety glasses on. Sleeves rolled up before you touch the machine.
| # | Step | Key point | Reason | Check / spec |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Load program O2001. | - | - | - |
| 2 | Put in the 2.0 in collet and set the bar feeder push pressure per the feeder chart. | Load 316 stainless bar, 2.0 in round, 12 ft. | - | - |
| 3 | Load T1 roughing with the MR chip breaker insert and set the roughing feed to 0.010. | Never above 0.012. Use the MR geometry, not the general one. | On 316 the chips wrap on the bar feeder above 0.012. | Feed 0.010 |
| 4 | Set work offset G54, Z zero on the faced end. | - | - | - |
| 5 | Check the coolant concentration. | - | - | 8 to 10 percent |
| 6 | Warm the spindle 10 minutes before the first piece. | Do not skip it on a cold machine. | Cold, the bore comes out 0.001 small. | - |
| 7 | Run the first piece and do the first-piece checks below. | The supervisor signs before you run. | - | See first-piece checks |
| 8 | Check the parting blade every 50 pieces. | - | On 316 it chips around piece 60 and then the part drops into the chip conveyor. | Every 50 pieces |
| 9 | If alarm 1023 (bar feeder fault) comes up, clear the chips around the feeder push rod. | Do not reset more than twice. The third time, call maintenance. | It is almost always chips around the feeder push rod. | - |
Sample plant. Tools: Bar: 316 stainless, 2.0 in round, 12 ft; Collet: 2.0 in; T1 CNMG 432 roughing, MR chip breaker geometry; T2 VNMG 331 finishing; T3 drill 0.750; T5 parting blade; Spare MR inserts: tool room, drawer 14 (Kevin).
First-piece checks: Bore 0.750 +0.002/-0.000, bore gauge; Face to shoulder 1.250 +/- 0.005; Record on the first-piece sheet; supervisor signs before the run. Open questions the conversation left unanswered: Feed rate for finishing (T2) not stated: ask Dan. Spindle speeds not stated: ask Dan or check program O2001.
Steps 3, 6, 8 and 9 hold what was never on the setup sheet: the feed that stops chips wrapping on the bar feeder, the spindle warm-up that keeps the bore in tolerance, when the parting blade chips on 316, and when to stop resetting alarm 1023 and call maintenance. That is the knowledge that walks out of the door when someone retires; our guide to tribal knowledge in manufacturing covers how to find it.
How to write a work instruction
Pick one job that is done often, goes wrong often, or is about to lose the person who knows it.
Get the expert to talk it through at the machine, and record it: a voice note, a chat, or notes. Ask why at every step. The reasons are the part nobody writes down.
Break it into steps, one action each, starting with a verb: Load, Set, Check, Clear.
Add the key point and the reason to each step that has one. If a step has no key point, it may not need to be its own step.
Take every number from the drawing, the program or the setup sheet, never from memory, and write the tolerance next to it.
Add photos where a new person could get it wrong: the right insert, the part orientation, the gauge position.
Test it: hand it to someone who has never done the job and watch them, without helping. Every question they ask is a missing key point.
Approve, post and train: sign it, put it at the machine, and record who has been trained on which revision.
Revise it when the job changes, a defect points to it (a root cause analysis often ends with “update the work instruction”), or the operators find a better way.
How the generator turns a conversation into a draft
Paste the conversation into the first tab. It reads WhatsApp and Teams exports with their dates, names and “media omitted” lines, call transcripts, and plain notes, in English or Spanish, up to 12,000 characters. The draft separates the steps from the chatter, puts “never” and “don’t” lines in as key points, moves tools, safety lines and first-piece checks to their own sections, and keeps, for every step, the words it came from.
No made-up numbers. Every number in the draft (feeds, tolerances, program and tool numbers) must appear in the text you pasted, and every step must quote the line it came from. A draft that fails either check is thrown away, and you get the line-by-line draft built in your browser instead, marked as needing review.
Gaps become questions, not guesses. If the conversation never gives the finishing feed, the draft says “Feed rate for finishing not stated: ask Dan” instead of filling one in.
You approve it. The draft opens in the editor. Fix the wording, merge or reorder steps, add photos, and sign it before anyone works from it.
Keep the knowledge when the people who have it leave
In most plants the real work instruction is a ten-year operator answering the same questions in the group chat, in the break room and over the phone at night. The old way to capture it is an engineer with a clipboard and a Word template, once, and the document is out of date by the next tooling change.
Morsa keeps plant knowledge from leaving with people. It learns from what your senior people answer in the chats they already use (WhatsApp, Teams, text and email), keeps the setup sheets and work instructions current as those answers change, and answers new operators in their own language from them. When Luis, who started last week, asks in Spanish how to set up Lathe 6 for the check valve body, the answer comes in Spanish from the setup sheet and what Dan told the last new hire, and Dan gets the same answer in English so he knows what Luis was told. Changes to an instruction go to the person who approves them first, and every change is logged.
Common work instruction mistakes
Writing the SOP instead of the instruction: purpose and scope paragraphs where the operator needs the next action.
Steps without reasons. People skip the warm-up when nobody told them a cold spindle cuts the bore 0.001 small.
Numbers from memory. Every spec comes from the drawing, the program or the setup sheet.
One instruction for three machines. If the steps differ, write three.
No revision control. Two copies at the machine, different feeds, no way to tell which is current.
Written once, never updated. Tie every change to the tooling, the program or a quality problem back to the instruction. The total productive maintenance guide shows how autonomous maintenance standards stay current the same way.
English only on a Spanish-speaking shift. If the operator cannot read it, it is not an instruction. The generator prints the labels in Spanish; translate the steps or ask the operator to check them.
Common questions
What is the difference between a work instruction and an SOP?
An SOP describes a whole process: what happens, who does it and which records are kept. A work instruction describes how one person does one task in that process, step by step. An SOP for production setup might say every new setup gets a first-piece check signed by the supervisor; the work instruction says which dimensions to measure on the CVB-200, with which gauge, and to what tolerance.
Is a work instruction the same as standard work?
Not quite. In lean manufacturing, standardized work is the agreed method for a job with three elements: takt time, the work sequence and the standard in-process stock (Lean Enterprise Institute). A standard work instruction (SWI) is the document an operator follows to do that sequence; this template covers the sequence, key points and checks, and you can add cycle time to the header.
How long should a work instruction be?
One or two pages, and usually eight to fifteen steps. If it runs longer, the job is probably two jobs, or the instruction is carrying setup data that belongs on the setup sheet.
Who should write work instructions?
The person who does the job best should supply the content; a supervisor, engineer or lead usually writes it up and gets it approved. Pasting the expert’s own explanation into the generator keeps their words and reasons instead of a paraphrase.
Does ISO 9001 require work instructions?
ISO 9001:2015 requires the documented information the organization decides is needed for its processes to work as planned (clause 7.5). It does not name work instructions, but auditors will ask how operators know the right method, and a controlled, revised work instruction is the usual answer.
Can I make a work instruction in Spanish?
Yes. Choose Spanish for the labels and the PDF prints Paso, Punto clave, Razón and the rest in Spanish. When you draft from a conversation, choose “Write the steps in: Español” and the steps are written in Spanish, with the numbers exactly as they were said.
Does the text I paste leave my browser?
The editor, the PDF and your saved draft stay in your browser. To draft from a conversation, the pasted text goes to Morsa’s server, which writes the steps and checks them; nothing you paste is stored or logged. If the server is busy, the draft is built in your browser instead, line by line, and is marked as needing review.
Is the work instruction template free?
Yes. No sign-up, no watermark and no Morsa credit line on the PDF. Download the filled instruction or the blank template as often as you like.
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WHERE MORSA FITS
Your best work instruction is still in someone’s head.
Morsa learns from what your senior people answer in WhatsApp, Teams, email or text, keeps the setup sheets and work instructions current, and answers new operators in their own language from them. Book 30 minutes and we will show it on one of your machines.
