Food industry
Since the pandemic, operations in every industry have been dramatically modified, to maintain employee safety and flow of communication.
As a result, one of the world’s leading soft drink manufacturing companies was facing several challenges, to adapt daily operations to the new safety standards now required in the production process.
The two areas of main concern were:
- Staff Management and
- Facility Management
Issues faced on Staff Management
The first issue, was related to the staff management: inside the compound the use of personal mobile phones was not allowed. There were several issues that could be generated by opening the network to unsecured devices however, the communication was required to support the production.
Some of the issues could be recap as:
- Information security: restricted use of private mobile phones was necessary for protecting enterprise sensible information and production information (such as keeping the formula confidential).
- Facility security: As a leading manufacturing industry, the daily production workload is heavy. Affected by factors such as temperature and humidity, there may be harsh and extreme environments. Therefore, in the production area, mobile phones with large-capacity batteries are needed to ensure battery life. Meanwhile, sturdy and durable mobile phones that apply to various environments are also required.
- MDM system: Managers need to conduct centralized management of staffs through an MDM system, including remotely managing staffs' attendance, operational compliance, task completion status and so on.
Therefore, there was a need for unified solution that had the instant communication function and could be connected to the internal network without issues.
Issues faced on Facility Management
Additional issues were faced in the management of the facility.
The main areas of concern were:
- Warehouse inbound and outbound management: the company was looking for a better way to keep track of raw materials coming in and finish product going out.
- Storage and recording of material information: monitor stock levels and flag items that are running low, fridge temperature monitoring etc.
- Management of production and operation processes: monitor the production line and flag issue such as lines that are slower or not working, uncompleted processes or loss of pressure.
Solution
The introduction of smart devices, such as LTE Android™ tablets and 4G smartphones have allowed for a more efficient work flow.
The compatibility of Android™ phones and 10” devices with PTT software has improved communication in every department allowing for safe distancing, that has now become part of daily lives.
Benefits of RugGear equipment
The introduction of RugGear rugged smartphones and tablets have helped solve a number of managements issues, making each process faster and more accurate.
For instance: the RG935 has been introduced to help the maintenance engineers with production line monitoring: when the filling machine triggers a fault alarm, now the RG935 will immediately receive a task notification, including detailed information such as the location of the faulty equipment and the fault code.
Another area that has benefitted from the RG935 has been the production line optimization, thanks to real-time monitoring of production data (such as equipment operating speed, temperature, pressure, etc.), it has been possible to generate a visual operation interface for production line adjustments helping improving performances.
Furthermore, the rugged credentials of RugGear devices allow them to perform under any temperature and humidity, without damage to any devices or reduced battery life. RugGear’s large battery capacity also allow for the devices to easily go through 8 hours working shifts.
The RugGear communication solution have also improved the work efficiency by saving communication time: when experts/managers are not available on site they can still be reached via wireless communication devices. By using a RugGear smartphone device or tablet, a member of staff that require support, can reach a supervisor in a live video meeting, ask questions and be guided to quickly solve the issue, finding the solution much faster, than by using email communication or simple phone calls.
This accounts for both time saving and avoiding production line losses, with direct access to experts whenever they are needed, without waiting time.
The RG935 has also been employed in warehouse management to store product information. For instance, to give shipping priority to products with a closer expiring date.
Another application has been the inventory management of raw materials and ensure that their storage environment meets all requirements.
An additional bonus of the rugged tablet is the capacity to safely store the equipment maintenance manuals, operation videos and other useful material that can be consulted at any time.
In addition to the large screen tablet, another device from the RugGear range has been deployed by the company: the RG530.
This has helped to consolidate the hardware into unified multi-functional devices (one device that can serve multiple purposes).
A large PTT button for instant communication and the support of PTT RSM and noise-cancelling headphones with ear hook all prevent the environment noise in the production area to disrupt communication.
Furthermore, instant communication flows uninterrupted, thank also to the support of both, the LTE connection and the internal Wi-Fi® .
If you’d like to find out more about RugGear’s solutions and how they can help improve your company efficiency and flow of communication, get in touch with our team and we’ll be happy to assist you.