At this point, every manufacturer realizes the need to digitally transform its operations to stay competitive. But many factories are constrained from adopting the latest manufacturing tech, largely due to a lack of budget. In addition to the high price of many advanced technologies for manufacturing, there’s also the issue of complex installation and onboarding processes associated with factory floor technologies that tend to present significant challenges for small and mid-size factories.
Though many technology suppliers offer free trial periods for their technologies, most digital systems take longer to fully implement and test their applicability than the standard 30 days typically offered for the free trial period.
To help address this issue, Pico MES is offering its digital work instruction suite of tools for free to any manufacturer. Pico MES’s technology products are designed to help manufacturers achieve error-free assembly operations.
Every manufacturer who signs up for its free digital work instruction suite of tools will receive a cloud-based instance with capabilities to build worker guidance instructions, create digital process flows and assign stations. The only restrictions to this offer are on the number of stations, operators and associated data tools. As stated by Pico MES, “This is not a free trial with a time limit. This no-cost model supports our mission of modernizing the supply base and taking cost out of the equation.”
According to Pico MES, one of the easiest ways to drastically reduce human variability is to give all operators a set of standardized work instructions with images and videos to guide their step-by-step processes. These digital work instructions become a teacher, ensuring the right information is present for the worker at the right time. Pico users can tie those instructions into connected tools and business systems to further amplify gains and ensure true continuous improvement.
Adoption of digital workforce tools are increasingly seen as essential to industry efforts to attract a Gen Z and Millennial workforce, as this next generation of digital-native factory employees expect a modern work environment.
Pico MES noted that its goal is “to make the first step of a factory’s digitization journey as frictionless and scalable as possible without leading to a dead end. Digital work instructions are a key component when initiating this transformation. By offering these solutions for free, we are furthering our mission to make factory modernization standard within the sector. Once a manufacturer has created a strong digital foundation, teams can accelerate and actualize a more modern and efficient factory future. Every five-minute gain from using digital solutions—from answering yet-another operator question to reworking a part that was built incorrectly—can be reinvested into other factory operations, continuing a steady drumbeat of factory improvement.”
