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The Future of Work in Manufacturing:

Remote Work Strategies

BY KHIZER HAYAT

4 MINUTE READ

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way many industries operate, and manufacturing is no exception. While the majority of manufacturing employees were unable to work remotely during the pandemic, about 41% were able to adopt remote work. Now, as companies are beckoning employees back to the office, manufacturers are strategizing how to integrate work-from-home policies to boost retention and attract top talent.

“I talk to a lot of manufacturing leaders who want to enable flexibility and remote work to attract the best talent,” said Carolyn Lee, president and executive director of the Manufacturing Institute. “The conversation has really evolved to where flexibility is key and very much an essential ingredient for attracting and maintaining a workforce.”

Challenges of Remote Work in Manufacturing

A manufacturing industry is built on in-person operations, so implementing remote work policies comes with unique challenges. For example, a major automotive supplier that transitioned its design and engineering teams to remote work experienced breakdowns in communication and collaboration between these teams, which carried over to implementation on the shop floor.

Solutions for Effective Remote Work

Manufacturers are experimenting with different approaches to remote and flexible work to overcome these challenges and retain employees. Some companies are introducing core days for corporate employees to work in person, such as J.M. Smucker's popular hybrid policy requiring corporate workers to be on-site only six days per month. Other companies, like Ford, have adopted a flexible hybrid model, allowing senior leaders to decide how their teams will return to the office and designating in-person workdays.

The Role of Technology

Emerging technologies, such as computer vision, digital twins, and smart glasses, are playing a crucial role in facilitating remote work in manufacturing. These technologies provide real-time factory insights and remote maintenance feeds, improving communication between remote and in-person employees. Computer vision in particular provides operational insights as well as video data that helps production supervisors and engineers solve problems without both parties needing to be on-site.

i-5O clients are using computer vision to facilitate remote work

i-5O clients like Pride Mobility use i-5O’s computer vision system to remotely monitor production processes for any anomalies and notify production supervisors when an issue is flagged by the system’s alert mechanism. For example, when an anomaly is detected on the production floor a text alert is sent to the production personnel as well as the engineering team. The production personnel can immediately take care of the problem on-site while the engineers can investigate the root cause of the problem remotely by logging into i-5O’s portal and looking at the production metrics as well as video feed on the dashboard to ensure the issue doesn’t reoccur. This way only operations personnel need to be on-site while the engineering teams can work remotely and still be aware of production problems through i-5O’s computer vision system.
As the manufacturing industry navigates the post-pandemic landscape, remote and flexible work policies are expected to play an increasingly important role in attracting and retaining talent. While challenges exist, manufacturers are committed to finding innovative solutions that balance the need for in-person operations with the benefits of remote work. Solutions like i-5O’s computer vision system are enabling manufacturers to effectively implement flexible work policies without impacting productivity.

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