Manufacturers can benefit from automating workflows
The manufacturing industry has already heavily embraced automation in a number of different ways. Businesses in the sector have been automatically collecting data, using robots and so on for years. Therefore it only stands to reason that relying on automated workflows to make sure everyone sees pertinent information in a timely fashion is the next step for many to take.
This may be especially true for manufacturers transitioning from older legacy inventory management systems that relied more heavily on manually inputting data from paper documents to next-gen platforms, according to TechTarget. By automating workflows and scanning documents, the need to rely on paper filing systems has dwindled sharply thanks to modern technology. And even beyond those steps forward, additional benefits of increased efficiency may come from combining these new workflows with the data management systems collect. That, in turn, can give insights into ways to further improve every step of the production process.
"We work on lean flow manufacturing," Jesse Roy, director of service at Robotec, a company that adopted automated workflows, told the site. "Not knowing what [sales] opportunities are there, it's really hard to plan your next fiscal year when you have no idea what's in the pipeline."
Of course, each manufacturing company's needs for both modern management system adoption and automated workflows are going to vary, so it's also important for them to assess how those systems will integrate successfully, both initially and on an ongoing basis, according to Smart Industry. One of the best ways to do this is to look at how these systems perform over time. If any inefficiencies start to crop up, knowing where things are lagging can go a long way toward helping manufacturers address these problems.
When ramping up to automate workflows, these businesses will often have to assess how best to digitize documents they've been using for years. The good news is that with document conversion services, a lot of the scanning process can be done automatically, without the need to sort through large amounts of files for days or weeks in advance.
