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NEWS ZERO DOWNTIME OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO GOING DIGITAL
aking good on its zero downtime customer promise, Clearmark Solutions is now recognised as an official Zebra Technologies Partner. Food and beverage manufacturers that depend on Zebra’s table- top offline printers to generate high definition seasonal, limited edition runs, and back up labels now have inclusive access to Clearmark’s specialist and extensive service, support, consumables and coding design capabilities. Even reaching and supporting established Zebra printer owners that don’t currently conduct business with Clearmark! Awarded ‘Registered Reseller and Printer Repair Specialist’ status by the global print company, the addition of Zebra’s off-line printers, all fully compatible with the CLARiSUITE suite of software products that incorporates CLARiSOFT label design software and CLARiNET networking software used across all ICE printers, gives food and drink processors of all sizes more coding options and a way of monitoring Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). A familiar site in UK food and drink production facilities, the thermal transfer Zebra desktop printer is synonymous with efficiency, functionality and enhanced productivity. Production facilities that have migrated to more advanced real-time online coding systems, for example Clearmark’s transformative ICE Vulcan print & apply labeller, continue to depend on Zebra printers as a shrewd coding and labelling buffer. As time is the ultimate commodity in fast paced manufacturing environments, having a printer backup alleviates the most common tech-related frustrations, safeguarding against downtime and providing extra on-demand print capacity to flex to seasonal promotions, limited edition runs and bespoke product campaigns, notes Clearmark’s Gemma Butlin. The aftercare manager said: “Given that downtime can have such a detrimental impact on businesses of all sizes, having an offline Zebra printer that’s completely aligned to a company’s online real-time coding system will always be beneficial to a manufacturers’ disaster recovery strategy. As well as adding additional print capacity to cope with seasonal peaks, they also guarantee a continuous workflow when online printers are undergoing maintenance, consumable changeovers or repairs.” Championing both company’s solution- focused ethos, Clearmark set out at the start of the partnership to create a mobile print station enabling manufacturers to easily move their Zebra printer around the factory.
www.clearmark.uk
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rganisations in the manufacturing industry are falling behind in terms of digital adoption, which could be negatively impacting their bottom line, according to new research by GAIN LINE. The survey asked 1,000 senior managers/ directors and those heading up procurement, HR and ops teams at SMEs in ‘traditional’ industries — rail, life sciences, manufacturing, energy and construction — about the use of and attitudes towards digital services/tools within the business. It found that 57% of leaders in the manufacturing sector feel they aren’t confident with technology, with more than half lacking the skills needed to move from paper to digital services. GAIN LINE helps firms grow by digitally optimising their operations for improved efficiency, and believes the reluctance to go digital within the sector could be negatively impacting organisations. As well as impacting efficiency and profitability, lack of digital adoption is also setting manufacturing firms up for issues in the near future with government initiatives such as Making Tax Digital, requiring businesses to file their tax returns online.
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Despite hesitancy, 40% of manufacturing respondents stated that they have started early stages of digital adoption by moving some services from paper to digital,
although 61% believed they could never get to a point where business operations (everything from HR to accounting) were merged to one system.
When asked what the main barriers to going digital were, manufacturing industry respondents cited: • Lack of confidence with technology (50%) • Lack of digital skills within leadership and employees (47%)
• Resistance from leadership (47%) • No time or budget to train staff (27%) • Lack of budget (26%)
“Many SME manufacturing businesses see potential benefits of going digital,” said Jonathan Ward from GAIN LINE, “however, lack of digital skills and resistance from leadership can make it difficult to put plans in motion. Going digital can save firms huge figures in both time and money.” Of the SMEs across all five sectors that have gone fully digital, 58% said that doing so saved them money, 56% said it improved morale and 52% said it increased revenue. Ward continued: “There are lots of options for manufacturing businesses to help them go digital including hiring digital apprentices, sending employees on training courses, applying for digital grants and seeking help from a digital transformation specialist such as GAIN LINE.”
gainline.co.uk
STAFF RESILIENCE OFFERS BUSINESS BENEFITS I
ndependent research commissioned by RS Components has shown that, by building resilience among their staff, senior engineers can often make fast and cost-effective improvements to their business’ overall resilience.
The third report in the Resilience Index
series - The Resilience Index: People - How a focus on people can strengthen resilience quickly and cost-effectively - identified five key practical actions that senior engineers should consider to drive forward the overall resilience of their business. The actions identified will help companies not only to recruit and train the right people to support their aims but will also help to underpin a company’s behavioural resilience by prioritising safety, skills, and capabilities. The five actions are: 1. Tackle the training deficit. Continuous upskilling of people will help to maximise operational efficiency and minimise losses but is also necessary due to the number of unfilled vacancies. 2. Put safety first. Undertake thorough risk assessments to reduce risks and ensure appropriate PPE for staff safety at all times. 3. Outsource certain activities. By analysing what can be outsourced to improve operational efficiency, senior engineers can outsource certain activities to suppliers to free up staff to deliver greater value across operations.
6 FEBRUARY 2022 | PROCESS & CONTROL
4. Work out what makes people tick. Consider how to manage, motivate, and reward an engaged workforce keen to look at what’s new, what’s next, and what impact they can make.
5. Recognise the value of HR. Recruit HR leaders who’ll bring to the boardroom commercial experience and ideas to release performance and potential from people. Not salary scales, policies, or fruit. Peter Malpas, President EMEA at RS Components, commented: “It is estimated that transforming manufacturing resilience in the UK could add £26bn of productivity value to the economy. It’s clear that company workforces have a vital role to play in achieving this.” For a copy of report visit:
https://www.rs-
connectedthinking.com/en/operational-e fficiency/insight/the-resilience-index- people
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