When you think about the most important things that keep your factory running smoothly, raw materials and a trained staff are likely top of mind. Corporate executives often overlook the importance of factory-floor communication as they make investment decisions to move their organizations forward. However, effective communication in factories is essential to meeting production, quality, and safety goals. Here are some specific reasons why adopting effective communication equipment and procedures are worth the investment.
Effective communication reduces the risk of workplace accidents
Many factories rely on heavy machinery to produce goods in large quantities. In addition to production speed, these machines bring safety hazards to operators and maintenance professionals. When it comes to combating these issues, factory managers rely primarily on training to reduce workplace injuries. However, training isn't enough sometimes. Having a way to communicate about potential hazards in real time is an effective method for reaching your team's safety goals and stopping accidents before they start. The following scenario makes this clear.
Your factory introduces a new product onto the line. When handled improperly, one of the materials that's used to make the product causes chemical burns. Your well-trained team changes shifts soon, and many workers don't know about the potential threat on the floor. While your factory likely has procedures in place to handle hazardous materials, it pays to make a safety announcement via a communication channel that's accessible to every affected factory worker.
Think about how you would make such an announcement in a noisy factory setting. Loud-speaker announcements can get drowned out by background noises and are hard to hear by factory workers. Microphone earpieces that don't cancel out noise are ineffective at best. The worst case scenario is that users raise microphone volumes to hazardous levels that lead to hearing loss. In these cases, a high noise communications headset is the ideal complement to your factory's communication strategy.
Poor communication results in wasted materials
It seems that every day you hear about supply chain failures. Restaurants that serve chicken wings have run out of wings and must substitute chicken thighs until further notice. Recently, gas stations temporarily ran out of fuel to serve customers due to a cyberattack that disrupted distribution of fuel to busy East Coast cities. Whether supply-chain breakdowns are man-made or naturally occurring, they're most certainly on the risk management radar of your company's senior staff.
Supply chain risk mitigation strategies should always include ways to reduce waste of critical materials that your company has already purchased. Without effective communication tools and procedures in place, the amount of wasted materials increases. This lowers profits and can pose a threat to production if those materials are ever in short supply.
Inadequate communication slows production
To factory operators, the sounds of humming production lines are the sweet melodies of revenue. The last thing that they want to do is to stop the music. When you have adequate communication protocols and equipment in place, you lower the chance of this happening.
Change is inevitable in most factory settings, and workers must adapt quickly and safely to keep operations running smoothly. When workers are nervous about making mistakes that relate to those changes, they tend to stop what they're doing and ask questions. In a noisy factory, this often means leaving their places in the production line to clarify new procedures or instructions. Even if your factory has communication protocols in place such as email or text messaging, frequent stops to check those messages can take factory workers' hands away from production line duties while they fumble to open mobile apps and email programs.
When a machine breaks down, or you experience a supply shortfall, you'll need clear, efficient messaging to keep production deadlines. Instead of relying on email or text messaging programs, consider outfitting each factory production line operator with a high noise communications headset. These headsets are perfect for group communication in a high noise environment. The headsets cancel background noise and deliver studio sound quality that leaves nothing to chance when it comes to giving and receiving instructions on the go.
Sketchy communication lowers product quality
Mistakes on the production line don't just cause manufacturers to miss deadlines. They can also lead to reductions in product quality if they are missed by understaffed quality control teams. When inferior products arrive on retail shelves, problems multiply.
Loyal customers return items in hopes of getting the quality products they've come to expect from the brands they love. They are inconvenienced and require additional customer support. New customers return the items for a refund and complain of the brand's poor quality on their social media channels.
There are times when consumers pay a heavier price for manufacturing defects, as in this scenario: A woman was visiting her sister and decided to make a smoothie using her sister's high-speed, single-serve blender. As she pressed down on the blender to mix her drink, the blender heated up, cracked open, and sent its sharp blade flying through the air. Fortunately, the blade didn't harm the woman's eyes, but it did result in her receiving several stitches in the emergency room.
Using good communication tools such as high noise communication headsets on the factory floor allows managers to give prompt instructions about changes in production methods and early warnings of defective products.
Conclusion
While implementing good communication systems in office environments is relatively easy, doing so in factories takes finesse. The foundation of your initiative should come directly from your factory floor activities. By taking note of your factory's unique communication requirements, you'll be able to incorporate the latest communication equipment and technologies into your organization. These will help to move your factory into the next generation of manufacturing.
Effective communication matters on the factory floor
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