Businesses up and down the supply chain are undergoing a digital transformation. Everything from work orders to pick and pack checklists are being converted to digital formats as distribution centres, pet food manufacturers, and fast-food operators go paperless. As part of this digital revolution, technology for manufacturing, including iPads and industrial tablets, are deployed in manufacturing facilities to speed up transactions, complete jobs more quickly, and create more efficient workflows. Once used by consumers to read e-books, more and more employees on shop floors are getting work assignments and making sense of information with smart devices and intelligent asset management.
Offering mobility and real-time data visibility to workers in the manufacturing and service industries equates to time savings and cost reductions. Here are just a few real-world examples:
- Bearing and seal manufacturing company SKF witnessed productivity gains of 12% from engineering staff armed with tablets. [1]
- Office Depot Inc. has saved some 1,000 hours per year in order-entry time by digitizing orders and transmitting them to the warehouse floor for processing on iPads. [2]
The Challenges of Mobile Devices
Maintenance engineers awaiting repair requests and drive through attendants taking customer orders have the same challenge. Devices must be readily available and charged when their shifts start. If iPads and tablets are uncharged, lost, or broken, employees can’t perform their jobs, and companies lose time and money. When a device is down, your business loses both productivity and the capability of speeding up transactions.
Like other work-related tools, if you’re using a smart device to perform your day-to-day job, you’re probably not taking it home at the end of your shift. So it needs a place to be stored securely, and in many cases, be connected and accessible for essential updates. Devices that aren’t physically secured are at an increased risk for data breaches. Are you willing to take the chance that your devices won’t be compromised? Losing valuable intellectual property and confidential data can cause a severe business disruption resulting in penalties, reputation damage and wasted employee time.
How do you make manufacturing more efficient? You can throw money at your mobile device challenges by hiring more people, creating more manual workarounds, or outsourcing the issue altogether—but what if you could avoid many of these road blocks and costs from the start? While it may not be possible to eradicate system and equipment issues, there are solutions to decrease device downtime. Watch how organizations overcome organizational challenges by leveraging the FUYL Tower by PC Locs. An intelligent asset management system that charges, stores, secures, and manages assets for most mobile devices.
Keep Your Mobile Workforce Going with Smart Charging Lockers
The FUYL Tower comes in two sizes of either 5 or 15 individually-lockable compartments. Here’s how this solution eliminates many of the manual workflow processes of shared device programs:
Check–in/Check-out Program
At the start of each shift, workers use their assigned PINs or RFID badges to open an assigned locker and retrieve a device. At the end of the day, they put their devices back in a locker, where they will be charged and kept secure. In addition to physical security, the FUYL Tower’s embedded computer automatically applies security software updates as they become available. This feature ensures that for Towers connected to a network, security software is up to date and more prepared against cyber attacks. Easy peasy!
Device Loaner Program
What happens if a device goes missing, encounters a fatal error, or gets damaged during a shift? With an additional tower for “hot spares,” no time is lost getting devices into the hands of workers who need them. Your employees can simply use a PIN or swipe their RFID badge and be on their way with a loaner device for the day. The only time taken from an IT Member’s or a media specialist’s day is providing the PIN or RFID access. Alternatively, through the use of API, automation rules that work best for your business can be created to help streamline device management for check in check out, break/fix, loaner devices, etc.
Seamless Integration of Existing Software
The key feature that allows the FUYL Tower to overcome organizational challenges is our API, which allows seamless integration of existing software and business processes. Incorporate FUYL Towers easily into your existing IT infrastructure with remote access and Tower administration via an Intelligent Management Platform. FUYL Towers are network enabled, and an optional Network Kit can expand network capability to each individual compartment to enable device updates and re-imaging while securely stored within the FUYL Tower.
To put it simply, because the Tower can communicate with the devices inside, updates can be made remotely. For example, our API allows you to send work orders to specific devices as they sit securely in a locker overnight, so your workers are ready to start their day without missing a beat.
If you’re curious how an Intelligent Asset Management System could integrate into your operational workflow, we’re here to help. PC Locs exists to make life easier for the users of mobile technology by creating solutions that ensure accessibility and usability of devices at all times. Get in touch with PC Locs.
Sources
[1] Smart Devices Help ‘Smartify’ Manufacturing Industry – Quality Magazine
[2] Is that an iPad in your warehouse? – Supply Chain Quarterly