There are a lot of benefits from incorporating mobility into a manufacturing company, with workers experiencing an increase in productivity. 84% of all companies who view themselves as cutting-edge in mobility report an increase in overall productivity as a direct result from incorporating mobile apps into their business.
More and more businesses, across a spectrum of industries, are implementing enterprise mobile strategies. They are all building mobile apps for their employees in a bid to increase productivity, gain competitive edges over competition, and, in the end, lower expenses and increase profit margins.
How Does Mobility Impact Business Performance in Manufacturing?
In a wired world, the efficiency of field technicians, managers, and on-site workforces was slowed by the technology and methods of the time. Technicians in the field had to stop what they were doing and go through lengthy call-in processes to close out work orders. In the supply chain, the efficiency of every stage was dependent on how fast workers could complete complex, manual workflows.
With enterprise mobility, manufacturers are seeing a major impact on operational efficiency in all phases of the company. This results in significant savings and reduced costs across the board. Companies are experiencing a much faster time-to-market, thanks to increased productivity and efficiency at all levels of the manufacturing process.
In the past, procurement, supply chain management, and asset management tasks could take hours from multiple employees, all handling their specific part of the process. Now, one employee is spending a few minutes on a mobile app and completing previously complex tasks in a matter of a few seconds. At the same time, the usefulness of mobile device capabilities (GPS, Photography, Barcode Scanning, etc.) is reducing human error and increasing the accuracy of data captures.
Integrating Mobility Into Current Systems and Creating New Processes
Companies aren’t just integrating mobile into their current systems; they are using mobility to completely change how they do business. From manufacturing goods to providing service in the field, mobility gives businesses the ability to go back to the drawing board for their business processes, creating new and innovative ways to improve their overall performance.
One example of a company using mobile technology is Shindler Elevator. They introduced a monitoring app that improved their service restoration by 22%. They can now diagnose elevator problems remotely with reads on speed, friction, conditions of the elevator, and more. When technicians arrive, all the data has been pushed to their device, so they already have an idea of the cause of the problem, and how to fix it.
In supply chain management, when a delivery doesn’t show up on time, employees don’t have to waste time tracking down the drivers number, calling dispatch, or any other myriad of things to discover why the shipment isn’t there, and when it will arrive. GPS tracking can give up-to-date information of where the truck is, if it’s stuck in traffic, if it’s been in an accident, and the estimate time of arrival.
The Top Benefits of Mobility for Manufacturing
For manufacturing industries, mobility has the capability to deliver amazing results in improved efficiency, productivity; resulting in lower costs across the board. There are four reasons mobility is a logical investment for manufacturing companies in the future:
1. Technology has become very portable.
With modern day smartphones, tablets, and phablets, lugging a lot of equipment around is no longer an issue. What used to take several bulky pieces of technology to accomplish can all now be programmed into an app or two on a single, tiny device.
2. Mobile technology has become very affordable.
The affordability of mobile technology has provided benefits to organizations in a couple of ways:
* One mobile device can replace multiple complex devices.
* Mobile technology is getting cheaper in price every year.
3. Mobility increases employee availability.
In the same way CB radios improved communication between drivers and dispatchers, and mobile phones suddenly connected everyone with a quick dial of their number; mobility is increasing the availability of employees.
Employees are always connected to everyone else, managers are always in reach for quick approvals or questions, and most requests, demands, or conversations now take place within the apps themselves. Workers in the plant don’t have to stop and find a manager for advice or approvals; instead they can use their mobile apps to submit requests, questions, or reports to managers immediately, which instantly appear for the manager, even if they are miles away.
4. Mobility increases the efficiency of business processes.
Push notifications and easy workflows in an app replace forgotten or delayed purchase orders of the past. Now, managers can review and approve or change purchase orders in a few seconds, while push notifications ensure POs are not forgotten or missed.
Inspected goods are photographed on site before procurement, using barcode scanning to ensure the right product has been inspected, geo-location technology to ensure the inspector is at the correct site to inspect the correct merchandise.
Human Resources have time off, timesheet corrections, and workforce compliance agreements all done regardless of where they are at the time. Employees who can’t make it into the office, have the ability to check on the status of their HR requests without actually having to call in, or walk in to the office.
The Use of Mobile Apps for Manufacturing
Across the board, adopting mobile technology into the manufacturing industry and company processes improves productivity, giving higher margins to the company and increasing the efficiency of the workforce.
How and where mobility is implanted into your manufacturing organization is open for creativity. Companies are discovering new and innovative ways to push the envelope on every aspect of the organization to optimize from the top down.
It starts with the apps you build or use within your organization from Human Resources and Asset Management, to Supply Chain Management and Procurement; and all gaps in-between. Today, companies are using platforms, like appsFreedom, to build mobile apps for manufacturing quickly – allowing them to leverage the benefits of mobility.
If you would like to see how appsFreedom empowers companies to build enterprise mobile apps in a few days, take a test drive and experience it for yourself.