From Tribal Knowledge to Process Work Instruction

While working for Hinckley Yachts as a Quality engineer intern, I was tasked with transcribing process work instructions on valuable information that was previously not recorded. During Covid there was a large surge of early retirement, and a lot of tribal knowledge of workers that had 40+ years of building experience vanished. Service centers also needed this tribal knowledge when doing repairs correctly, or installing new amenities on boats. The goal was for me to work alongside the builders in the factory to understand and comprehend the process. I would then transcribe it using technical language for the next generation of boat builders. 

For the next two weeks, I arrived to work at 5:00 am to begin the workday with the rest of the builders. We worked on the foredeck and the portholes process. From start to finish, I did the majority of the work involved to truly understand and comprehend the process. While planning out the process work instruction, I realized that the language I will be using in the document will be very technical. I was informed that this process work instruction was going to be used by people all over the country, so I made an effort to make the document as accessible as possible. I asked my manager if I could take photos of the process and add them to the document. For many of the workers in other factories, English was not their first language. In my efforts of making it accessible, I realized that the technical jargon I would be using in the document may not be able to directly translate to another language. Even if English was their first language, there still may be words or phrases that a new employee may not understand. 

When I finished working in the factory, I went back to the office and began to construct the process work instruction. I combined the visuals with the step-by-step instructions. This process work instruction was then reviewed and distributed to the entire company/service representatives. This project was a pivotal point in my internship, where I began to feel as if what I was doing day-to-day in the office was making a difference on a macro level. The Wake Forest Engineering curriculum and staff do an amazing job of educating the "whole engineer" to conquer nuanced problems with modern solutions. The knowledge and perspective I gained from the curriculum helped me to approach the process work instruction with a "Pro Humanitate" view.