Production workers want to do their job, get it done right and as efficiently as possible.

When I think of using SharePoint in a manufacturing environment my first thoughts are always about the production workers. These are the assemblers, technicians and testers that have a job to do and they want to do their job as efficiently as possible. Why? because they want to get through the work day. Most look forward to getting thier lunch break so they can catch up with their co-workers. They want to get through day so they can get home to their family and loved ones.

So your probably wondering exactly how SharePoint 2007 can help workers on a production floor?

A simple way to make a manufacturing environment efficient is to implement standard tools, interfaces, procedures and processes among other things. Using SharePoint enables a manufacturing environment very simply to publish web based interfaces that the technicians can use to perform their job duties. These standard interfaces can contain links to procedural resources for particular processes. Maybe there are links to training material for certain processes that change frequently. Additionally by including links to other company applications and resources such as the HR web site or a time card log-on page you essentially publish a web based interface with the tools a manufacturing employee would need to effectively perform their job duties. This published interface then reduces the dependency on the client PC configuration to some extent.

The business value of implementing a standard web interface to production workers in a global manufacturing environment is endless. Think about it from a training perspective where as the team leaders for the various work cells globally now have some level of standardization in their training material. What’s more is that this standard interface now enables a simpler cross training effort when employees move through the various work cells. Additionally, you enable a work force that has standard interfaces which allow for stream lined manufacturing processes. As the manufacturing processes improve your product quality and reliability improves. Consider that this is at a global scale for manufacturing sites world wide.