Top 5 Locations to Put Digital Signage in Manufacturing Facilities

Manufacturing is a vital sector in the U.S. economy, employing over 15 million people who produce goods for local use and export. However, most of these employees are disengaged in the workplace since many companies still use paper, email, and other traditional internal communications tools. Digital signage in manufacturing facilities is the best solution.

Generally, most manufacturing workers are deskless, meaning they don’t work in a regular office. As such, they don’t check emails as often as their desk counterparts and often miss important announcements. Moreover, paper notices in breakrooms quickly get outdated, lost, and faded.

Ineffective communication in manufacturing plants reduces production quality, compromises safety, and dissatisfies staff. Employees who don’t receive the information they need at the right time to do their jobs are more likely to leave, affecting retention rates.

Digital Signage in Manufacturing

The manufacturing environment has unique communication needs since it is noisy with a workforce that is not always on the computer. Digital signage is a natural fit for production plants because you can deploy digital screens to any part of your facility.

The technology lets you meet workers where they are, be it the breakroom, factory floor, lobby, hallway, or cafeteria. Not to mention, you can tailor the message at each location, such as safety messages on the factory floor or event schedules on breakroom signs.

Top Locations for Manufacturing Digital Signage

Because these screens should be visible with little distractions to prevent error and injuries, here are the top 5 locations to deploy digital signage in your manufacturing facility:

1. Employee Breakroom

Many factories struggle with employee engagement and low morale. According to a 2017 Gallup survey, three-quarters of manufacturing workers are disengaged, resulting in high absenteeism and turnover rates. Disengaged employees feel disconnected from the organization’s mission, values, and goals and are more likely to engage in unsafe behavior.

Usually, managers stick flyers on breakroom bulletin boards to broadcast upcoming events and production progress. But, crowded notice boards do little to boost employee engagement.

Digital signage in manufacturing facilities helps managers create a safe and supportive environment for employees. Commonly, workers troop to breakrooms to relax and interact with colleagues. This setting provides an excellent opportunity to entertain, inform, motivate, and recognize staff.

Breakroom screens use eye-catching graphics and vibrant animations to draw attention to safety guidelines, regulations, productivity goals, social media feeds, and company-wide announcements. Further, you can popularize education and training opportunities to enhance the skills of your workforce.

Digital breakroom signs are also fantastic tools to celebrate employee milestones like birthdays and anniversaries. Spotlighting individual workers for a job well done motivates them to reach their targets.

A slideshow of new employees with photos and short bios is a great way to welcome new team members and make them feel like part of a team. Lastly, broadcast inspiration messages throughout the day to maintain morale on the manufacturing floor.

2. Warehouse

Inefficient communication in the warehouse slows production, reduces client satisfaction, and increases safety risks. Typically, warehouses employ many workers who don’t access email and other traditional communication mediums.

Ideally, managers should instantly communicate with all warehouse staff, and workers should have a clear vision of work progress at all times. For this purpose, more and more warehouse facilities are implementing digital signage solutions.

Digital screens let managers broadcast real-time KPIs in quick, easy-to-understand charts and graphs. Furthermore, digital signage software integrates with your inventory management system to track inventory shortages, backlogs, and order reminders. As a result, warehouse staff acts quicker to mitigate inventory issues, resulting in seamless workflows.

Every warehouse employee must be aware of security measures and risks since they work at dangerous heights, with heavy equipment that can cause injuries and even death. Thankfully, digital screens enhance safety and well-being by highlighting hazardous areas, clearance heights, and safety reminders. In addition, warehouse signs provide wayfinding information that improves navigation and reduces accidents.

In case of falling objects, harmful leaks, machine failure, and other warehouse accidents, digital signs display security protocols to calm and direct employees. Also, emergency notifications override regular digital signage content during company-wide dangers like fire and active shooters.

3. Product Assembly Line

Commonly, disengagement on the plant floor arises when employees are unaware of the goals and if they are being reached. Employees who feel their contributions are not motivated and are inclined to leave.

Metric displays enhance communication on the production line by showing data visualizations of production totals, inventory levels, production quality reports, and other performance indicators. Live dashboards are effective when placed in full view of everyone, such as high up on walls and near the time clock. In this way, staff get all the information to do their job correctly at a glance.

You need a powerful content management system to pull real-time data from various sources like inventory management software, CRM system, and ERP system to run live dashboards. In addition to integrations with other apps, the best digital signage software has tens of templates to ease content creation and deployment.

Safety is a major concern in manufacturing facilities as workers work with and near heavy equipment, toxic materials, and electrical hazards. In reality, the manufacturing sector accounts for 15% of all workplace injuries like strains, cuts, inhaling toxic fumes, and muscle overexertion.

Digital screens improve workplace safety by highlighting safety procedures and instant emergency messaging in case of falls, fires, explosions, and other dangers. Indeed, companies with higher engagement levels report 70% fewer safety-related accidents.

4. Entrance Directory

Colorful digital signs at the entrance establish your facility as modern, innovative, and tech-forward. Notably, a large, vivid video wall straight ahead of a visitor’s view attracts attention and impresses potential employees.

Digital signage displays at the entrance offer a great opportunity to promote your brand. For example, you can create a playlist with photos from product launches and workshops, community events videos, your website, and customer reviews. Further, brand the digital signage content with your company logo, fonts, and colors to reinforce customer loyalty.

Most visitors who enter your facility need directional guidance. Thankfully, digital kiosks streamline navigation by providing digital directories of where departments, people, elevators, and amenities are located. As a result, visitors plan their routes without bothering employees. Additionally, digital directories share announcements and upcoming events to inform clients and workers.

5. Meeting Conference Room

Meeting room management is among the most practical applications in a manufacturing facility. Usually, employees waste a lot of time looking for meetings, which reduces overall productivity. Small teams also book large-capacity meeting rooms, resulting in space wastage.

Meeting room digital signage addresses these issues via tablets placed outside each conference room. These displays show a conference room’s availability, capacity, schedules, and event highlights. Consequently, attendees quickly identify a suitable meeting area and book conference rooms in real-time.

You can also place the displays inside to display essential metrics and employee performance details for more productive meetings. What’s more, meeting room displays stream virtual meetings if you have many attendees or a scattered workforce. Lastly, conference room signs broadcast instant emergency messaging to get everyone to safety.

Increase Productivity and Safety with Digital Signage

Effective communication is essential in manufacturing plants to reduce supply chain delays, prevent accidents, and engage employees. Digital signage is a superb visual communications tool to coordinate the efforts of everyone involved in the production process. In practice, a digital signage platform needs a robust media player, software, commercial-grade screens, and captivating content to work.

Then, consider where to place your dashboards, video walls, and other display solutions, including the breakroom, production floor, and entrance. The best locations are visible to everyone, enabling managers to share safety information, live metrics, motivational quotes, and branded content.