4 Ways to Enhance Factory Communications with Digital Signage
George Bernard Shaw once said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” In a manufacturing facility or factory, effective communication is critical for the safety, productivity, and engagement of employees. From daily stand-up meetings to newsletters, and everything in between, communication channels have never been greater.
But, there’s no silver bullet – no one way to communicate within the walls of your facilities. You must deploy a “many ways for many minds” approach. And, that approach must include digital signage as a powerful tool for factory communications.
Digital signage makes communicating with a broad audience easier, particularly as your employees in factories and manufacturing facilities are not likely in front of computers.
Screens throughout facilities can relay important information about key manufacturing metrics, safety protocols, company updates, and more, facilitating effective factory communications.
When you effectively communicate across your manufacturing organization, you are able to improve communication with all levels of employees, which can help reduce risk in your workplace, improve data-driven decision-making, drive operational efficiency, and increase employee engagement.
Communicating important safety information is critical to manufacturing companies of all sizes, and digital signage can support your safety program with always-on messaging.
You can share safety videos, key messages, and reminders throughout the day and time those messages to what might be happening in the facility, such as shift start-up or breaks, ensuring effective factory communications.
In addition, Touch screen solutions can support individual employees’ needs for safety information by using touch screen solutions that enable an employee to seek out safety information about a particular chemical or piece of equipment at their station.
These technologies can also be used to clock in and out or log visitors to your facility, thereby increasing security and facilitating factory communications.
And, should an emergency occur at or near a facility, notifications on digital signage can be deployed instantly and effectively, leading to better outcomes.
Improve Data-driven Decision Making
Manufacturing metrics such as safety goals and trends can help your employees understand the impact their station, line, or facility has on the company.
And, sharing these metrics with employees will certainly lead to better decision-making.
Imagine if your employees could see, in real-time, a production gap that was happening in their facility.
They’d be empowered to work with leaders to make changes and close that gap, thereby leading to better results.
If you’re like many organizations, you have a wealth of real-time data and likely have built dashboards to help you understand trends and where the business is heading.
The data visualization tools you use are making complex data simple. Sharing those data visualizations via digital signage is just another way to truly capture the ROI of the data you are collecting and analyzing.
By sharing these metrics with employees, you can empower them to make better decisions and take actions to improve productivity and quality, facilitating factory communications.
Drive Operational Efficiency
Whether you leverage Lean or Six Sigma methodologies in your facility, digital signage can drive operational efficiency.
For example, you can reduce the amount of waste in your facility by moving communications to digital screens.
Or, you can leverage your screens for wayfinding to help employees reach their destination faster and more efficiently.
Whatever content you provide via digital screens, using this technology can save employee time, make communicating more efficient, and drive your operations forward.
Increase Employee Engagement
Finally, you can leverage digital signage to increase employee engagement in your facilities by sharing key employee milestones, welcoming new employees or guests to your facilities, sharing work anniversaries or leaderboards to spur action, and more, all of which contribute to better factory communications.
And, with today’s robust digital signage content management systems, keeping the content updated and on the right screens is easy.
An Indispensible Tool
Digital signage is an indispensable communication tool for modern manufacturing facilities, facilitating effective factory communications.
By incorporating digital signage into your workplace, you can significantly improve communication, data-driven decision-making, operational efficiency, and employee engagement.
This powerful technology not only enhances safety and security but also fosters a more connected and informed workforce.
As the manufacturing industry continues to evolve, digital signage will play a pivotal role in keeping employees informed, empowered, and engaged, ensuring effective factory communication.
Take the first step towards a more productive and efficient manufacturing environment by exploring the potential of digital signage today.
Enhance your business with a solid digital signage content strategy. Learn how to set goals, plan content, measure success, and adapt for optimal results.”
This post was inspired by a presentation titled “A Scaling Point of View” by Skykit Co-Founder + CTO Paul Lundberg at DSE 2023. A Scaling Point of View is about the methodologies for constructing a network when scaling is not just an option, but a core requirement.
