Connected Frontline: A Paradigm Shift in Workforce Engagement

I've witnessed manufacturing evolve enormously over my 20-plus-year career. One aspect lagging until recently has been genuinely engaging frontline teams. Whether because of information silos reducing communications and knowledge sharing, lack of employee acknowledgment, or just dealing with the fear productions teams have regarding their replacement by machines, digitalization, and workforce happiness seemed to be two different things.?

As someone who works on the digital side of the manufacturing spectrum, I believe that implementing sensors, IIoT devices, and analytics provides tremendous potential for the company as a whole and for individual employees.? The problem is that many of these tools are often forced onto the frontline without input, burdening rather than assisting. Teams rightfully resent more vague metrics when lacking context and the ability to improve in real-time or receive acknowledgment for a job well done.

This is where MATICS | Connected Worker Platform & Real-time Manufacturing Analytics really shines.?

For the past few years, Matics has been focused on connecting the manufacturing workforce through tailored real-time data insights, before the idea of a connected frontline workforce (#CFW) became the buzzword of the moment. As our solution evolved, we realized that workforce connectivity requires a culture recognizing each employee’s critical impact, regardless of role.?

Production operators are the ones with the deepest domain expertise and the ones who can make an impact on processes if only given the right tools. Their experience navigating equipment complexities makes them integral innovation partners. Quality technicians have unique insights into recurring defects. Together they keep the heartbeat of operations pumping. Recognizing the unique value of the different stakeholders is what drove us to focus on persona-based apps rather than building our solution around job orders.?

Matics’ value is continually improved by ongoing user feedback across operators, quality assurance, maintenance, and leadership. Contextualized insights help an engineer troubleshoot equipment in Leeds at 2am. Automated notifications alert a production manager in Dublin to schedule material reorders based on consumption use. These things connect the workforce, empower them, and provide real tangible improvements on the OEE of a plant.?

This human focus helped us grow our manufacturing customer base this past year. Adoption spans food and beverage, plastic, home goods, packaging, automotive, and global industrial leaders. Our client retention and referral rates keep growing given the tangible impact when genuinely connecting workflows by empowering workers with transparent data for better decentralized decisions.?

I'm curious how others view this workforce connectivity paradigm shift. Please share perspectives on the cultural and leadership aspects. Where should manufacturers focus on their transformation journeys??

I believe keeping our teams empowered through technology that connects rather than replaces will ground upcoming Industry 5.0 advances in enduring human values.?

What do you think?

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