Motorola by the numbers: Mobile solutions save manufacturing managers 50+ minutes a day
Kevin Parker, editorial director -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 9/27/2007 2:49:00 PM
Motorola acquired Symbol Technologies—a transaction completed in January 2007—because it wants to extend its expertise in enterprise mobility into the industrial sector, based on its existing strengths in the government and consumer sectors.
Kevin Prouty, senior director, manufacturing solutions, Symbol Technologies, a Motorola Co., says a survey looking at enterprise mobility in manufacturing markets—performed by Motorola EMb Market Intelligence, polling 6,000 IT decision makers and 2,500 mobile workers—reveals that manufacturing lags other industries in the adoption of mobile applications.
For example, 55 percent of decision makers devote less then 15 percent of their IT spend to enterprise mobility solutions. These decision makers cite deployment challenges, including integration costs, security and interference concerns; and device/infrastructure management needs.
According to manufacturing respondents, high ROI has been found in task-worker mobility applications—in the plant, refinery, and mill—such as preventive maintenance, asset management and tracking, and data collection.
The Motorola research concludes there is a higher adoption rate for mobile technologies in discrete manufacturing than in process production based on the higher labor component and more dynamic manufacturing environment involved.
Use of mobile devices is judged effective in that nearly one-third of respondents said they were able to recover at least 50 minutes per day based on its use.
Respondents say in the future, drivers for mobility investments will include lean planning and execution. In process industries, asset utilization is the major driving force.
