This whitepaper takes a detailed look at mobility in manufacturing and understands the drivers behind adoption of mobility, the benefits achieved, the challenges in-front and the future ahead.

1. Mobility in Manufacturing
Driving productivity and transformation

2. The manufacturing industry worldwide is reeling under tremendous pressure to increase their output,
improve quality and do it at lesser costs to expand their global footprint and reach to newer markets.
To match up to the soaring expectations of the customers and other stakeholders in the ecosystem,
manufacturing companies have initiated a stream of strategic and innovative measures with the objective
of becoming competitive and, at the same time, cost-sensitive. Mobility in manufacturing is one such
recent adoption that is enabling manufacturers to match their capability enhancements and resource
mobilization with critical improvement in business processes. The convergence of mobile technology
with manufacturing processes makes for a fascinating study with mobility playing a game-changing role.
What we are witnessing is a major shift swiftly gaining the form of revolution that promises to reshape the
manufacturing landscape by making it more lean, alert, and agile.
Our cover story this month takes a detailed look at mobility in manufacturing and understands the drivers
behind adoption of mobility, the benefits achieved, the challenges in-front and the future ahead.
The Makeover
Shop floors are set for a makeover with the entry of mobile phones, apps and devices. While the last
decade gave industrial units a new look with PCs, laptops and automated solutions, the current decade is
adding a completely new dimension with the advent of mobility.
“Mobile and wireless technologies are more important to my organization today than they were last year.”
Agree
No-Opinion
Disgaree
87.1%
Source: Motorola Solutions Barometer 2011
Mobility in Manufacturing: Driving productivity and transformation/ 2

3. Machine-to-Machine or M2M solutions are wirelessly connecting diverse devices like turbines, heat
monitors, vending machines and trucks etc., to a network, enabling two-way communication and
facilitating sharing of real-time data through radio signals. Engineers and technicians are no more tied to
their machines. They are all over the floor, remotely managing and monitoring their machines via M2M
and taking instant decisions, right on their feet. Mobility is reducing the unplanned downtime in the
organizations via mobile eKanBan solutions. The solution enables manufacturers to place a call button at
every station which when pressed will instantly transmit the call for inventory to a mobile device in the
hands of warehouse personnel for his instantaneous response. Mobility is reducing manual processes,
lowering errors by providing real-time visibility for better and cost-effective management of inventory.
Floor supervisors are armed with time and attendance data of their entire workforce resulting in effective
labor management. Mobility solutions via RFID are enabling automatic real-time tracking of assets thereby
reducing human effort, theft and wastage. Managers are carrying real-time Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs) on their mobile to keep a close track on it.
“My organization has a competitive advantage by using mobile and wireless technologies.”
Agree
No-Opinion
Disgaree
72.7%
Source: Motorola Solutions Barometer 2011
Processes, be it Production or Quality Control, are slowly getting mobilized and mobile devices like
smartphones and Tablets have become the all important tools in the entire manufacturing ecosystem. In
short, mobile apps and solutions are aiding transformation and bringing competitive advantage to the
adopters by adding agility and precision. Manufacturing has got a new M- mobility- to add to its other
three M’s- men, money and machines. Welcome the new wave in manufacturing!
Mobility in Manufacturing: Driving productivity and transformation/ 3

4. The Factors at Play
Several factors are converging to enable manufacturers to gain competitive advantage through mobility.
Manufacturing companies, of all sizes, are looking to newer markets to boost future growth. Zero-defect
manufacturing has become essential to be competitive and cost-effective in the current business economy.
Resources are geographically getting dispersed and hence require anytime, anywhere collaborative
mechanism. Employees used to the convenience of mobility in personal lives are bringing their own
devices and want to use them at work. Mobile devices are fast emerging as the premiere channel for
customer engagement. And, organizations are looking for virtualized operating models that enable real-
time collaboration round the clock and on the move.
Mobility - Concerns & Advantages
Concerns Mobility Advantages
• Globalization of marketplace • Real-time information sharing speeds up
• Optimization of resources to lower costs & be processes, faster time to market
price-competitive • Lower cycle times means better costs
• Reduced new product integration cycles • Increased regulatory/industry compliance
• Integration of mobile apps with legacy systems accuracy for quality reporting
• Data management cost • Reduced manual errors
• Stringent regulatory/compliance • Low data management cost
• Increased employee productivity
The mobile technology too has greatly evolved in recent times to emerge as the promising solution
provider to many of the organizational concerns. Smartphones have become more powerful, Tablets with
its various features are tailor-made for enterprise use and moreover, enterprise level app development is
flourishing, providing a galore of choices in apps for manufacturers to pick and customize to best of their
requirements.
Mobility in Manufacturing: Driving productivity and transformation/ 4

5. Possibilities and Opportunities
Scope of Mobility
Supply Chain Operations Fulfillment Procurement Product
• Inventory Management • Plant operations • Asset tracking & • PO/requisition approval Development
• Mobile ERP & Mobile BI management tracing • Status tracking • Engineering
• Forecast collaboration & • Plant maintenance • Warehouse • Supplier profile change/approval status
approvals management automation • Shipment notifications • Program status &
• Receipt • Scheduling alerts/report • Fleet management • Supplier alerts & reports notifications
Acknowledgement • Production alerts/reports • Route optimization • Program project updates
• Alerts • Asset tracking
• QC reports
Mobile technology has the potential to play a role in almost every step in the manufacturing cycle,
right from raw material procurement to supply chain to delivery. From mobile ERP and mobile Business
Intelligence to QC reports to PO/ requisition approval, we can see multiple points across processes
wherein mobility can be a lean enabler. In other words, mobility doesn’t limit itself to simply shifting work
from PCs to mobile but promises more through role-based applications, device integration and process
synchronization.
Oppurtunity for Mobility in Manufacturing Value Chain
Research & Product Product Product Customer
Sourcing Value Chain
Development Development Manufacturing Distribution Service
Customers feedback/data collected
Customer directly from user devices, through
Interactions specialized mobile applications
Smartphones with barcode reading
Materials applications to track inventory in
Management various stages of manufacture
Wireless sensors connected
Maintanence to machinery can send status
Management informationon to handheld systems
RAD tags on inventory items can store
Quality
Rationale
QC state information such as expiration
Assurance date
Remotely controlling multiple plant
Factory systems such as power and cooling and
Operations running operations diagnostics
Wireless surveillance systems that
Facilities supply live feeds to handheld devices
Management for security and emergency response
Sensors on company assets such as
Asset trucks allow employees to carry out
Tracking better fleet management
Wireless sensors update ERP with
Warehouse entry/exit of materials. Data accessed
Management from stakeholder smartphones
Source : TCS Global Consulting Practice - Research Desk Degree of Significance
Mobility in Manufacturing: Driving productivity and transformation/ 5

6. The Benefits
Mobility benefits to organizations
Improve regularly and/or regulatory compliance 19.4%
Reduce downtime 21.9%
Improve product quality or consistency 25.6%
Lower labor costs via automated processes 25.8%
Increase customer/partner satisfaction 28%
Decrease delivery time 31.5%
Improve on-time delivery rate 32.3%
Increase production efficiency 35.6%
Improve order fulfillment accuracy 35.8%
Decrease employee/manual errors 38.2%
Improve supply chain performance 40.3%
Improved business revenues/sales results 40.7%
Increase employee productivity/efficiency 57.3%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Source: Motorola Solutions Barometer 2011
There are several benefits associated with mobility adoption in manufacturing. Instant access to critical data
on-the-go not only helps in taking quick decisions but also helps enterprises engaged in manufacturing
to deftly manage their resources and prevent wastage contributing to cost-efficiency. Smooth and real-
time flow of data and information improves response time to all stakeholders including suppliers, vendors
and customers etc., helping organizations resolve key internal and external issues in shortest possible
time thereby boosting brand image and perception. Mobility also helps eliminate redundant activities,
enhance collaboration within various units thereby speeding-up processes.
A study conducted by BlackBerry to examine a company’s ROI in adapting BlackBerry solutions came out
with interesting results-
• Productivity- The study revealed that, on average, employee’s productivity increased by one h o u r
per day because of using a smartphone. In monetary terms, on an average yearly salary of
$100,000, it provided yearly benefit of $12,500 per user to the company.
• Workflow- The workflow efficiency increased by 38% as employees were able to maintain their
contribution in team workflow even when they were outside the office. Based on the average annual
productivity of $88,500 determined by National Competitiveness Council, the company gained $33,630
per employee annually due to boost in workflow.
• Immediacy- As per the study, employees on an average sent and received 24 emails/ day and
approximately 9 of these emails were time-sensitive. On a conservative value of $5 each time-sensitive
email/day provided an annual benefit of $4,400 per user to the company.
The total benefit of adopting BlackBerry solutions in the company was over $50,000 per employee per
year.
Mobility in Manufacturing: Driving productivity and transformation/ 6

7. The Challenges
Security Concerns Lead List of Challenges
Threats associated with network
security,including data and IP security
Understanding and keeping pace with network
technology changes, including the move to 4G
networks
Our workforce is currently not mobile
Insufficient number of useful business
applications
Lack of executive level buy-in to deploy mobile
solutions
Reliability and persistence of networks, signals
Production environment has unique requirements
0 1 2 3 4 5
Average Rating (1 = low , 5 = high)
Source: AT&T
While there are many critical business benefits associated with mobile adoption for manufacturing
companies, they however have to encounter a few hurdles in their journey. There are a few critical
challenges that has to be addressed by manufacturing organizations as they embark on the path of
mobility. Security of data and information is one major challenge faced by the industry in its endeavor
to mobilize processes. Enterprises have to create a formal governing policy which will define how
mobile devices will integrate and interact with men and machines in the ecosystem and provide a
secure mechanism to monitor and prevent data theft and fraudulency. Choosing the best technological
infrastructure is one major factor which organizations have to consider. Diversity in devices and platform
fragmentation only adds to the challenge as decision-makers sit to lay the blueprint. Organizations also
need to consider mobile bandwidth and latency issues as the world moves to 4G networks. Meeting up
internal and external demands and making mobility a hassle-free and smooth experience should also
be factored-in to enable comprehensive adoption and usage of mobility within the organization and to
derive desired benefits out of it.
Mobility in Manufacturing: Driving productivity and transformation/ 7

8. In Future…
Most organizations today are only picking the low lying fruits of mobility. And therefore we see the
role of mobility limited to a communication & information channel with a few exceptions of device
integration in a process. Complete synchronization of operational processes with mobility solutions and
comprehensive integration of mobile devices and apps with the manufacturing ecosystem, are still in its
early days. However, as organizations move in to the next level of adaption and the mobile technology
further evolves, we will see much bigger role for mobility in manufacturing. Factory floors will be remotely
controlled with mobile access to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Distributed
Control Systems (DCS). Machine-to-machine (M2M) and human-machine interfaces (HMI) will also enable
supervisors and managers to supervise and control shop-floor activities from anywhere via their devices.
Emerging technologies like NFC and RFID will be used to tag and track the movement of products, right
from the production stage to inventory, logistics and store. Real-time business intelligence dashboards via
blue-tooth enabled mobile devices will also see large scale adoption. GPS-sensors and accelerometers will
be used to update controller’s dashboard, expediting maintenance-related responses. Augmented reality
(AR) applications on mobile will also become a norm to train technicians in using various instruments and
tools. The future will see more such experiments and innovation in mobile adaption.
Our Recommendations…
• Enable mobility broadly. Mobility is the future and offers tremendous opportunities to
manufacturing organizations. Explore how you can leverage mobile technology to transform
your organization and bring agility and innovation to it.
• Think big. Build a mobile strategy that optimizes your organizational capacity and the mobility
advantage. Think beyond simple mobile usage and plan for wide-ranging implementation of
mobility.
• Manage the risks. Mobility has risks associated with it. Understand those risks and then deploy
an effective security mechanism to mitigate those risks.
• Be patient. It takes time to get returns on your investments from mobility. So be ready for a
long haul.
• Lay down the groundwork for next generation of mobility. Emerging technologies like
NFC, RFID etc., promises more opportunities. Be ready to seize them.
Mobility in Manufacturing: Driving productivity and transformation/ 8

9. It’s just the beginning
Mobility is more than mobilizing existing processes or providing mobile access for your employees to
the corporate network. The application of mobility we are witnessing today in manufacturing enterprises
are just the tip of the iceberg. There is much underneath to explore and leverage. A long-term mobile
strategy with sufficient ground work for future up-gradation and improvements therefore is the right way
to approach.
Mobile devices and apps can be a key enabler for the industry seeking to answer many challenges like
quality improvement, cost-efficiency, improved margins and to be competitive in the current business
environment. Now is the time for manufacturing organizations to seriously consider mobility and make it
a part of the overall business strategy. Invest in it today to prepare your organization for tomorrow.
About [x]cube LABS
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To integrate your enterprise people, processes and products with customized, avant-garde mobility
solutions or to explore mobility opportunities in your enterprise with our experts, please feel free to
contact us at connect@xcubeLABS.com.
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