Untapped Potential

Tablets and smartphones offer a cool factor, but can they also offer operational benefits to supplement manufacturers? If harnessed properly, the technological potential of mobile devices and systems can bring immense potential to the manufacturing space. Mobile technology can help make process-oriented manufacturing faster and more efficient, in a secure environment. Customized mobile applications could help improve efficiency and quality by more quickly putting the right information at the fingertips of the personnel that needs it most. The obvious challenge is cost, but the more complex task will be making decisions on which devices and which systems to purchase or develop, given the frontier of mobile technology is a muddle of platforms and innovations.

To date, the deepest supplement company inroads by mobile technology have been in the area of sales and marketing. This is a relatively elementary use of this technology, whereby staff stays connected on the road to colleagues and marketing data that help them sell. Maybe they use a tablet to show an informational video to a prospective client. Inventory management is another popular area for mobile solutions. To date, mobile technology has been slower to invade manufacturing, but shows great potential.

Smartphones are getting smarter and more ubiquitous. Tablets are replacing laptops en masse. Businesses need ways to become more efficient and responsive. Global information technology company Wipro reported businesses increasingly want more than just the ability to view simple content and performance indicators, but instead want to be able to customize and navigate the data based on the user and device.

Symantec's 2012 Mobility Survey indicated organizations are increasingly making line-of-business applications accessible from mobile devices. A large majority (71 percent) of businesses surveyed said they are looking at implementing a corporate store" for employees to download mobile applications.

Moving from desktops/workstations to mobile devices is no easy transition, but the call of mobile is intensifying and may require companies to take on the challenge to remain competitive. International Data Corp. (IDC) projected  by 2015, the world's mobile workforce population will reach 1.3 billion, representing 37 percent of the total workforce. It seems inevitable that tomorrow's workforce will be more accustomed to mobile devices than existing forms used in manufacturing and business.

Enterprise mobility can improve worker efficiency. A survey from Motorola (Motorola Enterprise Mobility Manufacturing Barometer) found manufacturers implementing mobile applications save an average of 42 daily minutes per worker. Being more mobile and connected allows workers and operations to be more flexible and adapt to the production data. Compared to being limited to hardwired workstations, personnel can use handheld devices interact with equipment, sensors and controls on-the-spot and focused on their task. No longer would they have to manually collect data and enter it into a physical logbook or desktop device; this would all be done automatically using mobile technology.

Remote access to data also brings promise to  equipment operation; imagine being in a meeting or in the field, and getting an alert as soon as it happens, without waiting for an on-site worker to find the problem and call to alert.

Another advantage to mobile technology could be decreased paper-based data collection, storage and sharing, replaced by a mobile platform that increases accuracy, convenience and compliance.

If mobile technology can improve compliance and accuracy in clinical trialsMedicus Research has increasingly found clinical trial subject compliance improvements via the use of mobile apps in its SysteMedicus technologies, which ensure the data is collected according to FDA regulationswhy couldn't this technology also improve compliance with  good manufacturing practices (GMPs)? In fact, there are already GMP-focused  iPhone and Android apps for manufacturers of pharma (eGMP, GMP US and GMP Library) and foods/beverages (iAuditor and Canvas Food Safety GMP series) industries.

Jay Deakins, founder and president of Deacom inc., has previously informed Natural Products INSIDER readers about how Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software can improve quality and compliance with GMPs, by helping with batch ticket processing, formula management, quality control (QC) testing, lot tracking/recall and document management.

A little under a year ago, Deacom took its ERP software to the mobile world, introducing an iPhone application, providing users real-time access to the data from the master system. The new app has the same source code as the master ERP system, which means minimal to no learning curve or transition woes. "DEACOM is based on the .NET framework which allows for easier integration with mobile devices and allows all mobile app development to be performed in house, with no third-party involvement. This enhances security and flexibility of the system, a unique feature to the DEACOM system," Deakins said. We are the only single-solution ERP on the market, and we were not willing to sacrifice the process control and data quality benefits a single solution provides by bolting on a third-party mobile application."

Connecting with back-end systems such as large ERPs is one of the biggest challenges to implementing a mobile system, according to software development and consulting firm Thorn Technologies. Thorn noted with complexity of processes and systems a top mobile challenge, manufacturers with unique, complex back-end systems may need to create apps in-house or with the help of third-party software development firms. The firm further advised a one-size-fits-all, complex central app may not always be the best solution, but simpler apps can be developed for specific personnel/positions; this can help streamline implementation.

One of the primary challenges to adoption of mobile technology by manufacturers is cost. There is an obvious initial cost in terms of devices, systems, software, etc., as well as the cost of implementation and maintenance. However, mobile devices can cost significantly less than hardwired devices, and going wireless can alleviate the cost of running wires in a new facility.

Concerns about costs go hand in hand with the desire for a good return on investment (ROI). The Motorola survey found more than half of surveyed manufacturers using mobile technology reported ROI analysis showed a return within 15 months of their initial investment.

Symantec's survey uncovered similar predictions, with about three-quarters of businesses saying they expected to increase efficiency through mobile computing; almost every single one of these  businesses (73 percent) ended up with such efficiency gains. Symantec noted the results represented both small and enterprise businesses.

While good ROI and operational efficiency are advantages of mobile technology implementation on the plant floor, challenges cited by information technology (IT) executives include security, backing-up data, lost/stolen devices, data leakage and unauthorized access. However, Symantec reported nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of these IT leaders believe they at least broke even on the risks versus rewards.

The scope of mobile technology in the manufacturing plant is a big question facing businesses. Making approved apps available to personnel is a basic adoption of mobile technology; creating customized apps for specific operations and personnel to use is a more committed implementation. A big question is whether such staff will use their personal mobile devices or use issued devices dedicated and managed by the employer. This is a question of security and control.

Setting up a mobile network that is secured and controlled by the manufacturer's IT department is challenge, especially in large facilities. Among the considerations, there are point-to-point (one node connected to one other node), hub-and-spoke (one central base station for multiple nodes) and mesh networks (multiple nodes interconnected). Where point-to-point offers a reliable solution, this type of network is not easily expanded to accommodate new nodes (called redundancy). The hub or multipoint system is more easily adaptable to expansion, but  reliability is dependent on the radio frequency (RF) connection between the base node and those connected to it. It can be difficult to find the ideal location for base nodes in a large facility; also, RF interference can limit either of these point systems and result in some data loss.

Mesh networks also have a central station, but each connecting node can also communicate with the other nodes, creating many pathways of communication. This means if one pathway is suffering from interference or other connectivity issues, a different pathway can be used to pass information to other nodes and the base. This solves not only the issues of RF interference and path loss, but it also allows for great redundancyadding new nodes in any location of the plant increases the possible communication pathways and does not require any change to the base station location.

Mobile technology holds immense potential for process-driven manufacturers such as those in the food/beverage and dietary supplement industries. Harnessing this potential can be a complex and costly task that includes decisions on devices and systems, as well as apps and other software. However, gains in efficiency, quality, compliance, flexibility and mobility will allow manufacturers to run lean, more quickly and economically adapt to changing business environments and become more competitive  in markets where operational costs are a decisive factor in market share (i.e., competing on price and volume).

"With more than 60 percent of the surveyed manufacturing IT decision makers stating that their organization currently has a mobility strategy, it is clear that mobility is no longer viewed by manufacturing IT executives as the vision of the future, but strategically important today," said Jim Hilton, senior director, global manufacturing solutions for Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions. "In fact, more than one-half of those surveyed cited a competitive advantage through the use of mobile and wireless technologies to empower their shop-floor and field-mobility workforce to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace."