What’s the Difference Between Process vs. Procedure?

The terms “process” and “procedure” are often used interchangeably in the maintenance sector despite having key differences. Not fully grasping the distinctions between the two can result in inefficient production output, long equipment downtimes and even compliance risks. 

When manufacturing leaders and employees don’t understand the difference between procedures and processes, tasks may be incorrectly or inconsistently performed, slowing down business operations, causing errors and cutting into your profits. To make matters worse, if you have strict regulatory obligations to follow, incorrect procedures could result in harsh fines or even facility shutdowns. No manufacturing stakeholder wants to spend more than they need or to face compliance violations for simply failing to use the appropriate amount of detail in work instructions.

Fortunately, distinguishing between processes and procedures can help you determine how much detail is needed when performing various tasks across your organization. In this guide, we’ll establish the differences between the two and highlight the right amount of detail to provide depending on the type of procedure or process, so that your employees always know standard operating procedures (SOPs) and can keep business operations moving smoothly while meeting compliance standards. 

What’s a Process? 

A process is a series of actions designed to achieve a specific goal: answering the question of “what” needs to be accomplished by offering a comprehensive framework about how an organization or specific department works toward its mission. Processes typically provide a high-level view, breaking down a series of steps needed to meet a company’s overall objectives without including a specific set of instructions.

Process Example

A common process in manufacturing is implementing preventive maintenance to ensure equipment is inspected and that any detected issues are addressed quickly to prevent breakdowns and downtime. This type of process typically includes general steps like scheduling recurring inspections, proactively replacing parts, scheduling repairs as needed and keeping comprehensive maintenance records. 

Notice that the process doesn’t include the specific steps on how to perform each of these tasks but rather provides loose instructions on what needs to happen as part of a high-level strategy to ensure the equipment remains functional and production can continue smoothly. 

Benefits of Processes

From increasing operation-wide productivity to fostering collaboration, there are many benefits to outlining business processes across all aspects of your operations, including: 

Standardizing Employee Training

Processes provide general guidelines on the strategy behind maintaining equipment and infrastructure across your entire operation. These instructions ensure business continuity by minimizing errors, keeping equipment functional, maintaining employee safety and meeting compliance standards with national and state regulations. 

Promoting Teamwork (Even Across Departments)

Foster collaboration by streamlining operations with clearly defined workflows, communication channels and shared responsibilities. Teams can follow process documents to address production issues, boost efficiency and accomplish collaborative objectives. 

Increasing Efficiency

Creating a maintenance process, whether it be for new employee onboarding or a general preventive maintenance schedule to improve workflow, keeps everyone on the same page in regard to what needs to be done to meet business needs and ensure continuous improvement.

Addressing Workflow Bottlenecks

By streamlining your processes, you ensure every phase of production is running smoothly and working toward a desired outcome. You can then track maintenance KPIs and metrics to see what additional improvements need to be made.

What’s a Procedure?

Unlike a process, which tends to be more general, procedures are highly comprehensive instructions on how to complete a specific task that’s part of a process. The procedure’s goal is to answer how to effectively perform a task, using in-depth instructions to ensure no step will be misinterpreted. 

Procedure Example

Suppose your operation requires an industrial air compressor to keep production moving and prevent downtime. In order to ensure this continuity, you need detail-oriented procedures for inspecting and maintaining this vital piece of equipment. Procedural documents commonly kick-off instructions by outlining the required safety equipment an employee needs when inspecting or maintaining the air compressor to ensure it is a safe working environment. 

Beyond safety protocols, technicians will get comprehensive step-by-step instructions on how to complete tasks appropriately. For example, for an air compressor inspection, your procedure documents will require anyone performing the task to check for leaks, filter quality and lubrication levels. These procedures ensure that minor issues are caught and addressed before they escalate into more serious, expensive problems that can result in breakdowns. For every step, exact instructions about tools, materials and the appropriate course of action will be laid out.

These explicit instructions ensure that technicians cannot misinterpret the required steps, to keep essential equipment operating reliably at all times.

Benefits of Procedures 

From standardizing how repetitive tasks are performed to maintaining quality control, there are many benefits to outlining maintenance task procedures, including: 

Creating Consistency for Maintenance Work Performed

With such descriptive instructions provided for every maintenance task in your facility, workers know exactly what needs to be done when performing inspections or proactive maintenance to prevent breakdowns, extend equipment lifespans and keep everyone safe. 

Reducing Downtimes

Providing technicians with detailed instructions for inspecting and proactively maintaining your most vital equipment ensures that minor issues don’t go overlooked and are fixed before they lead to production stoppages. 

Enhancing Compliance

Governments at the state and federal level require that manufacturing facilities adhere to strict regulations and safety protocols. Implementing exact procedures on how to meet compliance standards means that you’ll have a much easier time during the audit process.

Improves Quality Assurance

Providing technicians with standardized instructions for maintenance procedures ensures that every task is performed consistently and accurately, drastically reducing the likelihood of errors, maximizing efficiency and keeping all equipment running optimally. This also helps ensure that your end product is the same every time.

Increases Safety 

Providing hyper-specific instructions for technicians performing maintenance tasks ensures that they’re not taking potentially dangerous steps on their own that can result in injury. And since equipment is being continually inspected and maintained with your preventive maintenance approach, the likelihood of a dangerous breakdown occurring that can injure employees is drastically reduced. 

Process vs. Procedure Examples

Let’s take a look at examples of processes and procedures that act as a roadmap for plant operations within an automobile manufacturing setting to ensure efficiency and prevent downtimes.

Processes are the general workflows and systems that guide operations. For example, a preventive maintenance schedule for vital equipment in your facilities ensures consistent inspections and maintenance of all operation-wide machinery. This process outlines:

• How frequently maintenance should occur
• Which equipment requires repairs or part replacement
• General requirements for keeping the facility operating smoothly

As for procedures, these are the highly detailed steps for performing individual tasks within the wide-ranging processes. A procedure could describe how to perform preventive maintenance on the robotic assembly arms on the production line. These detailed step-by-step directions emphasize how to perform tasks like inspecting joints for wear, lubricating moving parts, calibrating sensors and making sure that the arm’s movements remain within specified tolerance limits. 

While the process outlines your organization’s maintenance strategy at a high-level, detailed procedures provide specific actions that ensure consistent and correct execution every time.

Using an CMMS for Processes & Procedures

A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) like Coast is known for optimizing process mapping and procedure management within an organization. Here’s how: 

Preventive Maintenance Process Automation

Use Coast’s mobile app to assign preventive maintenance tasks to technicians months in advance, ensuring an automated process for regular equipment inspection and repair.

Attach Detailed Maintenance Procedure Docs to Work Orders 

When these tasks are assigned, maintenance team members will receive an alert with work order details, including due dates, maintenance work locations and even detailed checklists on how to complete the task, ensuring your strict procedures are followed the same way every time.

Collect Tangible Data

As these technicians complete maintenance tasks and inspections, the work will be tracked in real time for future reporting to highlight equipment downtime and the amount of time a maintenance task takes to complete as well as any other key information your team might need to determine process improvements and optimize them for efficiency, safety and preventing downtimes.

Don’t wait to take your processes and procedures to the next level. Sign up for Coast today to digitize your maintenance management for more organized, streamlined workflows.