Digital Reinvention to Navigate the New Normal
Published on : Sunday 03-01-2021
Jasbir Singh on how digital technologies will help the world navigate the new normal post the Covid-19 pandemic.
Majority of us believed that the negative side of Covid-19 pandemic will end within a few months from the time of its first detection and all things will be back to normal as usual. In reality, many aspects of community may never return to what prevailed in the past. In an effort to control the damage caused by this, government agencies worldwide have taken intense measures on a war footing to save human lives. Millions of people have been forced to live under complete or partial lockdown. The pandemic has forced business enterprises to hastily change the working processes, and accept a new definition of communication protocol in production and services.
Most of us recognise the fact that the current normal after six months of time from the beginning of pandemic, the emerging effect becoming visible has already been fundamentally shifted to the new normal. In the manufacturing sector the entrepreneur who perceived the change and started acting on the new normal will reap the benefits of abundant opportunities for business growth. To deal with the slump in the market due to Covid-19 pandemic, businesses have already implemented accelerated change in market trends like online learning, video communication, work from home, deliveries at user point, consumer goods and services, etc. This pandemic has forced manufacturers to make deliveries in an unexpected and unprecedented way. First time in recent past of manufacturing history, demand, supply and workforce availability are tremendously affected globally and concurrently. Every manufacturer has experienced disruptions across supply chains of finished parts/products and input of raw materials, driven by volatility of supply due workforce and logistic disturbance. Companies who scramble by using short-term situations to overcome plans previously now want to look beyond the fog of uncertainty towards adaptation of long-term changes to the industry.
Remotely working as new operating model
Social distancing on work and employee safety measures put an additional pressure on manufacturers, as 50% of their workforces are unavailable to perform their functions in factories. Even the office employees and knowledge workers who are able to work remotely as the new operating model, failed to switch over due to lack of available infrastructure. Most of the industries are not designed to be managed remotely due to lack of digital tools and infrastructure setup to control. Remote working environment is a tough thing for the manufacturing sector to adopt. Management staff at supervisory level, finance team, HR roles could afford to work from home but there is no way factory workers can perform tasks by keeping distant from machines. Some employees who can even manage to carry out their work/office duties from home, while managers are still struggling for them to be productive as normal. Something like this remote working for a larger section of employees is going to happen in the future, whether the new form of pandemic struck or not. Now it’s an opportunity for manufacturing companies to dream about a newer manufacturing model, what the future of work looks like and start implementing.
Off-shore to in-shore manufacturing
During Covid-19 lockdown period raw material to semi-finished products supply has experienced an unprecedented level of shock, especially for manufacturers in many sectors (industrial, pharmaceutical, consumer goods, among other) that relied on offshore, for low cost and limited supplies’ sources from other countries, have faced due to trunked supply chain. Manufacturers are now looking for ways to quickly ensure continuity in supply and introduce future flexibility.
The Indian government is now almost certain to promote domestic manufacturing as part of their plan to build up strategic resilience in the aftermath of the current Covid-19 pandemic crisis. Automation will be the only key component to revive manufacturing and make it immune from future disruption. Previously the off-shoring trends that were fuelled to bring the bottom in terms of cost for labour and improve overall productivity are now seen as a challenge for sustainability. All processes can easily be re-shored and deployed back producing domestically with the greater automation under Aatmnirbhar Bharat call made by the Prime Minister of India. Advancement in automation and application of robotics will drastically increase productivity across all major manufacturing processes. Automated manufacturing will not bring back demand for low-skilled labour, but will create new jobs and opportunities for digitally-savvy workers. This will develop a new Bharat, where engaging a few multi skilled people can maintain labour intensive units and promote a culture of learning within them.
Advance logistics in modern manufacturing setup
Companies that are prompt to make their supply chains transparent, predictable and resilient will gain a significant advantage. Digital tools and AI processes that help to manage risk, accuracy and flexibility will ramp up across the industry, leading to faster digitisation in industry. Greater visibility and coordination across the business enables better collaboration with a wider base of producers/suppliers, leading to highly efficient and more resilient start-up India.
Intelligent automation
The present crisis has pushed the access to reliable, real-time data – an absolute necessity for coordinating the right operational response to contain the pandemic impact. In the coming time, structured stored data will become a critical strategic resource across multiple facets of business and overall society. This means a greater importance shall be given in data connectivity, acceleration of the 5G networks deployment linked to leading economic indicators. For the manufacturing sector, greater connectivity and high speed will mean significantly accelerated deployment of 5G for integration with industrial IoT, intelligent sensing, data visualisation by remote collaboration tools and AI-based functions across their operations. The enterprise segments that are likely to be the initial adopters of digitalisation by the use of 5G platform need to closely work with service providers in tandem with the manufacturing industries. This demands innovation, extensive trials and collaboration with different business verticals of enterprises with specific use cases in various sectors. 5G will be a driving force for a massive transformation in the world of technology. It guarantees users a seamless new well connected platform, and offers a broad range of inherent features for industries to tap its fullest potential for business transformation and their revenue growth.
Futuristic potential zero-touch product lifecycle management, including the automating the product designing, result framework creation, continuous improvement, modification and monitoring the output will encourage early adaptation worldwide. 5G enables a new communication network to connect virtually everything together, including mobile, machines, objects, and devices. 5G wireless technology is capable of delivering ultra-high Gbps peak data speeds, negligible latency, massive network capacity, enhanced reliability, extended availability, and uniform user experience to larger society. High performance and improved efficiency with 5G shall empower designers to connect new industries and business sectors across India and other parts of the world.
ISO standards for an infection free workplace
Emerging infectious disease outbreaks, such as the present Covid-19 pandemic, often have a psychological impact on the well-being of the general masses, manufacturing production units, including survivors and caregivers. Here infection prevention has precipitated as a major challenge in the healthcare segment, but by adhering to stringent occupational safety protocols in the offices, hospital, business parks and manufacturing units can thwart the spread of disease.
The ‘ILO Centenary Declaration’ adopted in June 2019 declared that ‘safe and healthy working conditions are fundamental to decent work’. This is even more significant today, as ensuring safety and good health at work is indispensable in the management of the pandemic and the ability to resume work.
Infection control in the workplace becomes the major aim for organisations to prevent pathogens from coming into contact with a person. Government and business employers are obliged under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 to provide a safe workplace for their employees. The surveillance audit system needs to include the training part on adequate infection control procedures, availability and accessibility of the right equipment to people at work. The fundamental of a good infection control system in the workplace is considered by the fact that everyone is potentially infectious. Proper protection procedures have to be prepared and followed at all times. The requirement of a detail section in ISO standard for occupational safety towards the infection free safe working environment is severely felt. It is not just covered when there’s a pandemic that employees and medical teams work for the healthy working place. It should ensure wide coverage with full potential including guidelines for powerful steps towards universal infection free workplace coverage in the business and manufacturing sector.
Overall wellbeing: the way people live and work
In the present time the workplace environment in industries has limited focus on physical and mental wellness of general workers and employees in the manufacturing sector or offices. Covid-19 has made us understand that businesses must shift the mind-set for employee wellness during working hours to their overall wellbeing. Humanity will use technology to change the way we live now to make our life easy and perform duties remotely in a hassle-free environment without any constraints, like wastage of time in travelling and exposure to various risks.
Jasbir Singh is an Automation Expert with experience in Factory Automation and Line Automation in a large production house. He is an Implementation Strategist, Business Coach and a regular writer on automation, AI, robotics, digital technology, network communication, IIoT, wireless communication, blockchain and use of advanced digital technology. Jasbir has a long association with industry to improve factory automation in production lines for productivity improvement in India and overseas by advising and also transforming into a digital platform by use of AI. He may be reached by mail at: [email protected]
