The Invaluable Asset to Manufacturing: Technology

November 30, 2022

The process of how goods are manufactured has significantly shifted since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s. What was once done by hand, can now be accomplished in seconds thanks to machinery. This transformation from hands-on creation to machine work has had a major effect on product costs, bringing them down to a realistic level for the average consumer, effectively making manufacturing a societal force for good. But while it’s necessary to commend the advancements made over the years to machinery as a whole, the manufacturing industry would not be where it is today if it weren’t for the innovative technologies at the epicenter of the manufacturing industry.

Over the last decade, this industry has been in a state of expeditious and integral transformation. On the demand end of the spectrum, manufacturers are up against consumers who want their products almost immediately and in high volumes. From an operational standpoint, manufacturers are faced with a cornucopia of technological offerings and tools to help radically improve demand challenges. Despite the importance of having the latest technological advancements incorporated within your machinery, it is even more valuable to integrate technology with your frontline workers and equip them with the right tools to help boost overall productivity and efficiency.

Here at Redzone, we pride ourselves on being the #1 connected workforce solution for manufacturers of all sizes – and thriving customers drive us every day. The explosion of mobile and social technologies, combined with lessons from behavioral performance coaching in sports, allowed us to create a solution that offers quick adoption on the frontlines with rapid results.

Our recent Frontline Worker Engagement Study dives deep into how our technology helps to boost employee engagement and increase productivity when empowered with technology. Overall, the plants from this study averaged a 74% increase across five engagement metrics.

Ownership of performance: An increase of 112%, reinforcing how frontline workers desire empowerment to own the results of their production line, including understanding what “winning” means for their company, focusing on improving processes, and hearing real-time feedback.
Autonomous problem solving: A 50% increase, meaning a significantly larger portion of workers have agency for both simple and complex problem solving, rather than waiting for management requests for corrective actions.
Connection to others: A 71% increase in communication and connectedness since physical, language and organizational barriers are digitally eliminated.
Cross-team collaboration: An 81% increase as workers now have the data, time and skills to connect with other teams on the floor on a common platform.
Feeling competent and recognized: A 73% increase now that employees’ skills are noticed by both peers and leadership, leading to regular recognition, mastering new skills and earning well-deserved promotions.

What’s the business impact of this increased engagement? Reduced employee turnover and increased team productivity. A more productive workforce churns out more end product, which means fewer supply chain interruptions and, ultimately, more products on shelves and less inflation impacting all of us.

Additional Redzone data and customer stories are available here, as well as the Redzone savings calculator to determine real life savings for your factory.