Three Ways to Keep Connected to Your Production Operations
The demand for skilled manufacturing workers continues to exceed availability. In fact, a July 2024 report from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that there are 100,000-plus more manufacturing job openings each month than there are new hires. That trend is unlikely to change any time soon as the industry continues to see a wave of retirements by older workers who are taking with them decades of knowledge and skills.
Manufacturers are responding to the staffing challenge by automating more processes to keep workers connected to production operations and empowering employees across the organization. By using distributed systems and mobile devices to capture critical data—such as production rates, uptime, overtime, scrap, equipment and process characteristics, product quality, and deliver performance—these companies are improving both their decision-making and their ability to respond to potential issues before they impact the business.
Keep Manufacturing Teams Connected to Production Operations
Whether the goal is to provide insights to key stakeholders who are across the building, in the front office, in a different facility, or around the globe, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) as a foundation for smart manufacturing has remote monitoring feasible and affordable for manufacturers of all sizes.
As a baseline, many manufacturers have installed monitors around their plant floors to display metrics for common performance measurements available to all employees. These key performance indicators (KPIs) may cover such factors as pieces made, scrap, and shipments, and ideally they are based on accurate, timely data extracted from real-time process and production monitoring. Offering wide access to this information helps to create a common understanding and foster a team approach to owning processes.
Increasingly, manufacturers are also making the same KPIs available to managers in the front office and senior operations personnel who are responsible for monitoring multiple work centers or even multiple production facilities. These updates can range from regular reports to specific alerts that are triggered when production or process data are trending out of bounds, and they may be delivered via emails or directly to applications running on employee’s desktop computers, smartphones, or other mobile devices. This helps to ensure that the people who need to make important decisions guiding the day-to-day rhythms of a production facility get timely insights when and where they need them.
Establishing Production Information Centers
A good example of automated monitoring comes from a southeast US-based manufacturer with multiple plants in North America. To create an automated monitoring system, the company’s leaders turned to the DELMIAWorks manufacturing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to help connect their production equipment controllers, tool rooms, warehouses, and maintenance activities and integrate their real-time data.
The team then envisioned and built “production information centers” (PCIs) in central locations on the manufacturer’s shop floors to inform technicians, workers, and operations managers of the status of tooling, schedule production jobs, equipment status, and available inventory. By having common metrics and displays across the plants and offices, the manufacturer was able to accelerate sound decision-making by onsite teams. Not only did team members at all levels begin to trust the information presented; they also developed trust in each other’s data-based decision making. This lead to a culture of “let’s decide (together) now.”
Remote Monitoring for Oversight and Automation
A growing number of manufacturers are also remotely monitoring multiple facilities that are across town, across the country, and even across international borders. For some companies, this has served as a way for senior personnel located in one facility to monitor and support newer or less experienced workers operating out of other locations. Some manufacturers have gone a step further by using remote monitoring to run highly automated, near-lights-out plants with very few people in these facilities.
For instance, a manufacturer in the US mid-west decided to purchase an empty building across town, retrofit it with modern communications infrastructure, and then install highly automated material handling equipment and presses. This facility has been operating essentially without any direct labor workers for a few years yet is monitored in real time by technicians and managers several miles away in the company’s original plant and headquarters.
By planning carefully for the automation of processes along with a streamlined, automated information flow to support truly remote monitoring, manufacturers can expand their production footprint while minimizing the growth of their workforce.
Three Best Practices When Pursuing Remote Monitoring
To ensure the successful adoption of remote monitoring to stay connected to production operations, manufacturers should implement three proven best practices.
- Identify a relatively short list of the true KPIs, dashboards and alerts that workers, managers and executives need for effective decision-making. Too many measures can create confusion over which are most relevant.
- Start with the end in mind when designing the monitoring system. Develop a laser focus on the specific kinds of raw data from operations needed to support the analytics that will drive the remote monitoring. Manufacturers who report that they gather huge amounts of raw data simply because they can also report that they struggle to identify which data points are actually useful.
- Integrate modern machinery, sensors, and manufacturing ERP software to assure that the necessary performance data from people, equipment and logistics is the most accurate and close to real-time as possible to ensure that this information is actionable at any time. Post-mortem analysis can help with large trends, issues and strategies, but in-the-moment, accurate information is always best for managing operations.
Conclusion
Adopting remote monitoring to keep workers connected to production operations, brings accurate, real-time data to manufacturing employees no matter where they are located serves to build trust by all stakeholders, foster teamwork, and accelerate data-based decision-making. At the same time, remote monitoring provides a powerful tool for enabling senior skilled employees to manage and mentor younger co-workers as well as expanding operations while minimizing the need to add staff. For those manufacturers willing to start small with the end in mind, stay focused on what is absolutely necessary, and implement thoughtfully, remote monitoring offers tremendous potential to operate efficiently, respond nimbly, and manage confidently for years to come.
