Application of hypertext technology to assist maintenance on the shop floor

Hypertext is an effective way of organizing and presenting data or text for information retrieval. Computer based hypermedia tools have been successfully employed for training purposes. However, the manufacturing industry still continues to rely heavily on paper versions of technical manuals for troubleshooting, maintenance and calibration tasks. This paper reports the results of a study conducted to compare the effectiveness of a computer based hypermedia tool vs the paper version of the same manual to assist operators in a local manufacturing industry to perform complex maintenance and calibration tasks.