Nitro Blog

How Is the Manufacturing Industry Adjusting to Remote Work?

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Remote work is here to stay (at least for a little while), so now's the time for manufacturers to embrace this new reality.

Working remotely during a global pandemic has been a major adjustment for many employees, and companies are doing what they can to adapt. However, many workers still lack the right tools to fully enable working from home. We decided to take a deeper dive into the trends highlighted in Part 2 of The Future of Work report and explored how workers in specific industries are managing this new normal.

In this first post, we’ll be focusing on the manufacturing industry.

What challenges do manufacturers currently face?

Today, manufacturers are dealing with significant operational challenges. The COVID-19 crisis forced many organizations to temporarily shut down, creating even more demand for the ones that remained open.

While many of those on the frontline can’t do their jobs from home, there are still almost 60% of manufacturing employees working remotely – which is a huge jump from only 26% pre-COVID. The bigger issue is that 53% of manufacturing workers have no experience working from home, according to another report by Leesman. This lack of experience makes the current situation even more challenging and highlights the critical need for manufacturers to adopt digital workflows.

Digital workflows not only save valuable time but also reduce risk, maximize efficiency, and lower costs.

Outdated document processes hinder productivity

When working from home, it’s important to have clear processes in place. Findings from The Future of Work report show this is still a problem for many organizations. Even with most employees remote, 56% are still printing and 50% still scanning, despite over 60% not having printers or scanners at home.

This kind of inefficiency is extremely problematic for manufacturing employees who work with a significant number of documents daily. Over 20% deal with more than 10 documents a day, and 8% handle more than 20 a day!

Manufacturers can’t afford to waste time on administrative tasks like printing, faxing, or scanning. When it’s repeated hundreds of times across your organization, it becomes a costly waste of resources.

It’s time for manufacturers to go digital

Remote work is here to stay (at least for a little while), so now’s the time for manufacturers to embrace this new reality. Companies like Howden, Continental, Leonardo, Toyota Financial Services, and Zebra Technologies are already ahead of the game, using document productivity tools to streamline workflows and boost efficiency.

Going digital can push your business to the next level – increasing productivity, minimizing workflow bottlenecks, enhancing collaboration, and improving agility. It may seem like a daunting process, but it will have a lasting impact on your business in the long run.