Author: Rose de Fremery
Date published: October 30, 2024
When considering the Internet of Things (IoT) in general, or specifically the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) as it relates to manufacturing, the first image that often comes to mind is connecting many types of devices or machines. For example, a robot equipped with IoT sensors. Such connected devices are part of building the smart factory of the future,1 which can help improve manufacturing processes and overall equipment effectiveness. But there's another related concept worth considering for factory efficiency: the connected worker.
The connected worker in manufacturing represents a shift towards a more digitally integrated and data-driven approach to industrial work. It refers to empowering workers on the factory floor with digital tools and real-time information to enhance their decision-making, collaboration, safety and overall productivity. Some of the key benefits resulting from connected workers include:
Connected workers are manufacturing employees who may use mobile devices and other technologies to connect to IoT sensors embedded in factory floor machines and other factory tools to monitor machine performance and environmental conditions.
AR headsets can help connect workers to experienced colleagues in distant locations who can provide live instruction about machine repair or procedures. These technologies can be integrated with one another in a single platform where factory workers can easily find and use these connected capabilities.
A connected worker uses a combination of digital technologies, such as mobile devices, to access near real-time insights on factory performance, collaborate with coworkers and share knowledge on how to carry out critical manufacturing processes. By leveraging connected worker technology—like the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), network connectivity, edge computing and augmented reality (AR)—especially in concert with one another, employees can complete more work in less time. The manufacturer benefits take the form of improved factory efficiency and improved safety while fulfilling their responsibilities.
Factories may rely on connected worker technology in the course of a typical workday. At the ground level, IoT sensors embedded in machines on the factory floor can collect valuable data for key factors, such as machine performance and environmental conditions. Mobile edge computing (MEC) allows data processing and storage to take place closer to the factory itself, reducing latency and allowing applications and IIoT-enabled devices to help enable timely decision-making near the source. Connected workers may use mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones to access the resulting real-time insights and manufacturing analytics needed to perform their duties.
Factory employees may also use these kinds of mobile devices to access instructions on how to perform specific tasks and even communicate with their coworkers when needed. They may also don AR headsets to receive live instruction on how to repair certain machines or implement particularly complex procedures, receiving expert support from experienced colleagues in distant locations. And, of course, connected workers may employ communication tools such as video conferencing and messaging to consult their colleagues as questions arise during the day.
These technologies may be connected via an integrated connected worker platform solution.
A connected workplace is a digitally integrated workplace environment that leverages a full suite of connected worker technology such as AI, the IIoT, network connectivity, MEC and AR to link manufacturing employees, technologies, systems and machines with one another. The Connected worker platforms can bring various technologies together, allowing employees at a company to access a standardized suite of tools from wherever they happen to be working.
A connected worker platform can enable real-time data sharing and dynamic communication that individual employees can use to carry out their responsibilities. A manufacturer can also use specific connected worker solutions like AR to strategically retain institutional knowledge from experienced employees and upskill newer employees, making good use of the company's internal expertise and talent.
The software that supports connected workers can help support smarter decision-making throughout the manufacturing firm—from the factory floor itself all the way up to the management level. With a connected worker platform, the company can minimize silos that would otherwise obstruct timely collaboration and impede organizational agility.
With the insights found in a connected workplace, a manufacturer can steadily enhance operations, improve factory efficiency and drive worker safety. As part of these processes, the company may be able to reduce costs, enhance product quality control, boost customer satisfaction, improve employee engagement and increase productivity.
In some cases, the company may even capitalize on its internal proficiency with connected worker technology such as AR to introduce a new value-added benefit to its customers. For example, nearly one-third of respondents to the 2023 Deloitte and MLC industrial metaverse study are already implementing or experimenting with virtual aftermarket services such as AR-based remote troubleshooting assistance and virtual operation manuals.
A digital thread for smart manufacturing is an integrated flow of data that connects digital and physical aspects of a product's lifecycle, encapsulating its design, production, performance, maintenance, service, and retirement processes. It is often enabled by many of the technologies found in a connected workplace.
“In their journey toward sustainable design and circularity, manufacturers are adopting digital threads to connect, trace and visualize product life cycles from cradle to grave. Digital-thread-enabled traceability allows organizations to quickly adapt to meet compliance and regulatory requirements, accelerate customer-centric innovation without compromising product integrity, gather usage information to extend product life and orchestrate ecosystem partnerships," according to Gartner® research.2 The research projects that “By 2027, end-to-end digital thread adoption among manufacturers will nearly double from 12% in 2023, thereby accelerating the shift toward a circular product portfolio.”3 The research also notes that “In their journey toward sustainable design and circularity, manufacturers are adopting digital threads to connect, trace and visualize product life cycles from cradle to grave.
Digital-thread-enabled traceability allows organizations to quickly adapt to meet compliance and regulatory requirements, accelerate customer-centric innovation without compromising product integrity, gather usage information to extend product life and orchestrate ecosystem partnerships.”4
Digital thread manufacturing can help make it possible to break down organizational silos, support better internal collaboration, improve decision-making and continually enhance manufacturing processes. Digital thread manufacturing can also help a manufacturer to extract value from product data that would have otherwise gone untapped or overlooked, potentially even opening the door to new products and services.
As Gartner notes, “In their journey toward sustainable design and circularity, manufacturers are adopting digital threads to connect, trace and visualize product life cycles from cradle to grave. Digital-thread-enabled traceability allows organizations to quickly adapt to meet compliance and regulatory requirements, accelerate customer-centric innovation without compromising product integrity, gather usage information to extend product life and orchestrate ecosystem partnerships.”5 Gartner also notes, A digital thread for smart manufacturing can also allow a manufacturer to embrace circular economy principles that reduce the environmental impact associated with their operations. With access to product usage/service information, manufacturers can not only unlock n-tiered traceability (for themselves, regulators and customers), but also improve the prediction of recycling/reharvesting/reuse potential of products for economic benefit, thereby enabling a circular economy.”6
A manufacturer can ultimately leverage digital thread manufacturing to deliver customer-centric innovation faster without compromising on quality, which can help give a competitive edge in the market. With these benefits in hand, a manufacturer can nimbly respond to changing market conditions while enhancing customer satisfaction.
The technology that supports connected workers can drive factory efficiency across a number of key areas, like productivity, collaboration, safety and agility. From real-time insights from the factory floor through tablets or AR headsets, to real-time communication with experts from around the globe, and to crucial safety warnings that can promote worker safety, manufacturers can observe myriad business benefits that could help improve their operations.
When factory employees can access real-time insights from the factory floor where they need it, whether via a tablet or directly within an AR headset, they can make smarter decisions about proactive equipment maintenance, conduct complex repairs quickly, reduce errors and work more efficiently overall. When the needed resources can be called up on demand, connected factory employees—even one who has just recently joined the company—can get up to speed that much faster and feel more comfortable in their role.
Connected workers can collaborate seamlessly with one another, whether they're all located together on the same site or distributed across vast geographical distances. Not only does connected working allow for collaboration on the fly, but it also facilitates improved knowledge sharing—for example, when expert technicians based offsite walk their colleagues through intricate processes with which they might not otherwise be familiar. Training and onboarding that might not be possible in normal circumstances become much more viable when connected employees can use AR headsets equipped with live video and instructions.
Traditionally, the business incentive to work faster has been in direct tension with the priority of worker safety. Here, too, a connected worker model can be of benefit to the manufacturer as well as their employees. With an AR headset providing a detailed overlay of the inner workings of a particular machine—as well as crucial safety warnings, for example—a factory worker can conduct maintenance or perform a sensitive process more safely.
As with all industries, workers in the manufacturing sector need to be able to adapt to new technologies and even new ways of envisioning how they can accomplish their work. A connected workforce platform can help provide connected employees the tools needed to adapt to new production processes, product designs or even evolving customer expectations, helping the manufacturer, in turn, respond to changes in the broader industry landscape with greater agility and speed.
Reliable and secure network connectivity keeps all forms of connected worker technology operating efficiently, especially when they are integrated into a broader ecosystem of connected worker solutions. A private 5G network paired with MEC provides a robust, secure and customizable network solution that the manufacturer can use to power a connected worker model while also creating the flexibility to further scale operations and enable even more sophisticated Industry 4.0 innovations in the future.
Additionally, as manufacturers increasingly embrace an Industry 4.0 framework that includes smart factories, they are discovering how a connected workplace can help drive factory efficiency. According to Deloitte, "When frontline workers are provided a thoughtful and strategic mix of technology to perform their jobs, productivity is estimated to increase on average by 22%." Connected worker technology, when effectively deployed atop a robust and reliable wireless network infrastructure, can help today's manufacturers deliver significant workplace productivity improvements to their workers, which can help unlock a powerful competitive edge in the marketplace.
Learn how Verizon helps manufacturers drive productivity in manufacturing.
The author of this content is a paid contributor for Verizon.
1Verizon Business, Manufacturing made even smarter, pages 1-6.
2Gartner, Top Strategic Technology Trends in Industrial Manufacturing for 2024, by Alexander Hoeppe, Jonathan Davenport, Don Scheibenreif, et al., 26 January, 2024.
GARTNER® is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
3Ibid.
4Ibid.
5Ibid.
6Ibid.