# Why do instructions get lost on the shop floor?

> Spoken instructions pass through three or four people on a factory floor. Each handoff loses a detail. Here is how that happens and how to stop it.

Source: https://kyrra.in/blog/lost-instructions-on-the-floor/ · By Kyrra · Published 2026-11-03 · Updated 2026-11-03

Instructions get lost on the shop floor because they are passed on by word of mouth. The owner tells the supervisor, the supervisor tells the master, the master tells the karigar. Each handoff drops a detail: a size, a colour, a date. Nobody has a record, so nobody can check what was actually said.

## How does a simple change go wrong?

Say a buyer changes an order from 40 pieces to 34, with a different lining. The owner hears it on a call. The message reaches cutting by lunch. Stitching hears about it the next day. Checking never hears about it at all.

Now there are 40 pieces cut, the wrong lining on some, and an argument about who said what.

## Why doesn’t a register fix it?

Registers help, but only if someone writes in them, at the right time, in a way others can read. On a busy floor, that is the first thing to slip. And a register can’t tell the next person that something changed.

## What fixes it?

Two things, together:

- **One record per order**, updated as work moves, not at the end of the day.
- **The next person is told automatically.** When cutting is done, stitching hears about it. When the order changes, every stage that cares hears about it.

The easiest way to get both is to let people say it the way they already do, with a voice note or a quick message, and have the system write it down and pass it on. That is what we are building with [Kyrra](/).