Manufacturing today looks quite different from how it did a few years ago. From global supply chain disruptions to smart factory innovations and advances in sustainability, the industry has evolved into a much more complex place, full of unique challenges and unexpected opportunities. To survive and thrive in the face of so much change, manufacturers are looking for smarter, more sustainable operations driven by an efficient workforce that has the right knowledge and tools to handle anything the future may bring.
We know that a connected workforce is key to supporting intelligent factories. We are excited to showcase our latest solutions to accelerate workforce transformation at Hannover Messe 2023, the world’s leading trade fair for industrial technology. At our booth, attendees can experience how Microsoft Teams is building solutions to address the unique challenges leading manufacturers and their frontline workers face—by helping streamline frontline operations, enhance communication and collaboration, improve the employee experience, and strengthen security across shared devices.
Streamline operations with digitized and automated tasks and workflows
From the back office to the factory floor, frontline workers need more time to focus on high-value work and less time wasted on manual updates, monitoring, and paperwork. According to a 2022 Microsoft Work Trend Index report, one-third of frontline manufacturing workers are looking to technology to help with onboarding new team members, scheduling, and automating repetitive tasks to relieve their heavy workloads.1 With Teams, frontline workers have a suite of tools and capabilities dedicated to streamlining daily tasks and workflows, enabling them to manage their factories and teams more safely and efficiently.
Microsoft Teams for Manufacturing
Empower all workers, from the factory floor to the customer’s door, with a one-stop shop for frontline optimization.
Efficiently resolve manufacturing challenges with data and AI
We are excited to announce that the native integration of AI-empowered Microsoft Power Virtual Agents into Microsoft Power Apps is now in preview. AI-infused Power Virtual Agents will be readily available in Power Apps, allowing frontline manufacturing workers to easily find intelligent answers within the context of their manufacturing applications.
Power Virtual Agents in Microsoft Power Apps and Teams streamlines onboarding for new frontline employees by providing them with quick and intuitive access to standard operating procedures, frequently asked questions, company policies, and other important information that pertains to their role. Additionally, frontline workers can use data and AI to quickly identify manufacturing problems and solutions. By making publicly available information easily accessible, frontline workers can learn more about their equipment, quickly identify problems, and investigate possible solutions in real-time.
Improve workforce operations with copilot control in Power Apps
In the same way that conversational AI is transforming app development, AI is also revolutionizing how workers question and interact with their data. We are excited to announce that copilot control in Power Apps is now in preview. Copilot control will allow Power Apps users to get intelligent insights and analytics about the data in their manufacturing apps through a conversational chat experience.
These queries provide manufacturers and their workers with real-time insight into day-to-day operations and allow users to compile analytics for critical tasks.
Siemens and Microsoft drive industrial productivity with generative AI
Siemens and Microsoft are harnessing the collaborative power of generative AI to help industrial companies drive innovation and efficiency across the design, engineering, manufacturing, and operational lifecycle of products. With the new Teamcenter app for Microsoft Teams, anticipated later in 2023, the companies are enabling design engineers, frontline workers, and teams across business functions to close feedback loops faster and solve challenges together. For example, service engineers or production operatives can use mobile devices to document and report product design or quality concerns using natural speech. Through Azure OpenAI Service, the app can parse that informal speech data, automatically creating a summarized report and routing it within Teamcenter to the appropriate design, engineering, or manufacturing expert. To foster inclusion, workers can record their observations in their preferred languages which is then translated into the official company language with Microsoft Azure AI. Teams provides user-friendly features like push notifications to simplify workflow approvals, reduce the time it takes to request design changes, and speed up innovation cycles. Read more in the press release.
Teams Shifts connector for UKG Dimensions
Scheduling is critical to ensuring productivity, plant utilization, and employee empowerment. To help manufacturers better manage employees’ schedules, we have partnered with UKG to co-engineer the Microsoft Teams Shifts connector for UKG Dimensions which gives manufacturing workers the ability to view and accept open shifts, request time off, clock in and out, and more. It is now generally available and joins our ecosystem of Shifts connectors along with Blue Yonder and Zebra Technologies.
Enable seamless task execution and analytics
We are excited to announce a new checklist requirement for Microsoft Tasks. With this new feature, all checklist items will have to be completed before the task can be marked as complete in the system. This ensures all necessary steps are completed for a task to help reduce mistakes and improve accuracy in high-stress or high-risk environments. By requiring every checklist item to be completed before the task is marked as complete, facilities can reduce the risk of equipment failure and production downtime. This new feature will be generally available in May 2023.
For the manufacturing company Ricoh, a critical factor in the manufacturing process is monitoring and maintaining the quality of products in development and accurately detecting any defects. These steps previously required multiple stakeholders across various departments, and time-consuming phone calls, emails, memos, formal reports, and meetings. The integration of Teams and Power Platform has allowed the digitalization of these mundane and lengthy processes—optimizing efficiency and significantly accelerating the production line.
Enable real-time communication and collaboration from anywhere
The fast-paced, industrial, and sometimes hazardous environments in manufacturing make immediate and clear communication critical to safety, well-being, and efficiency. As workers throughout the industry feel the pressure of frontline shortages, supply scarcity, and high demand, having quick, clear, and easy channels of communication are more valuable than ever.
Teams is working to reduce communication siloes, accidents, and unwanted downtime by enabling real-time communication and collaboration in one place. In fact, a Forrester Consulting study found a 25 percent reduction in factory floor errors due to misinformation with Teams for manufacturing workers.2
Communicate with ease by enabling shared use of mobile devices
Leverage Teams as your calling solution to connect with teammates, customers, and suppliers. Later this year, factory floor employees will be able to make and receive calls through shared mobile Android phones from wherever their work takes them. Read more in this Microsoft Tech Community blog.
Connect your workforce with instant communication
The powerful features of the Walkie Talkie app in Teams that improve communication and collaboration across your workforce are now available on devices from our industry-leading partners including Honeywell, Samsung, and Zebra Technologies. Each device comes with dedicated push-to-talk buttons, removing the need for extraneous devices for handheld communications. Additionally, we are excited to announce that nudge to explore, which helps onboard new users of Walkie Talkie, will be generally available in April 2023.
Enable immersive collaboration with the updated Teams RealWear app
We’re excited to showcase the latest update to our voice-optimized version of Teams, which enables workers to collaborate with remote experts and quickly troubleshoot pressing issues through a fully voice-controlled wearable headset—all while reducing business travel costs and carbon footprint impact.
Further, Teams and RealWear have improved the app to enhance zooming capabilities, now with four levels of digital zoom within Teams on RealWear Navigator® 500. We’ve also added Teams breakout room integration, enhanced the user interface navigation, and upgraded the app with 720p HD video and 15 fps support for added image clarity.3 These new features are now generally available.
Increase frontline well-being, engagement, and productivity
According to the Work Trend Index, 59 percent of frontline manufacturing workers in non-management positions report that leadership does not prioritize building workplace culture, and 50 percent do not feel valued as an employee.1 To help reverse this trend, manufacturers need an easy way to help securely foster community and improve engagement across remote devices, channels, and teams. Our latest product and partner capabilities help keep the frontline connected, informed, and engaged.
Put critical resources and updates front and center
We’re excited to announce that the pre-configured home experience for frontline workers on Teams is now generally available, rolling out throughout April 2023, streamlining access to information for the manufacturing workforce.
The new home experience is now rolling out on desktop and tablet. Learn more about how Teams is enhancing the desktop experience and how to customize the experience.
Etex employees across the globe log into Teams through company devices, kiosks, or personal devices. No matter how they log in, all employees can enjoy a personalized experience consisting of vital communications and work applications. Louise Cail, Chief Human Resources Officer at Etex, says, “We saw a well-over 80 percent return rate from our factory employees on a recent survey—that shows how important it is they connect on their devices. Our active engagement has increased dramatically right across our employee population, from the low 70s up to 86 percent—all since we adopted [Microsoft] Viva Connections.”
Secure your business across every device and endpoint
The pandemic accelerated digital factory investments for many manufacturers—a shift that has also led to increased risk for cyberattacks. In 2020, the manufacturing industry moved from the eighth most targeted industry by cyber attackers to number two, falling behind only finance and insurance.4
Teams helps manufacturers safeguard operations with built-in security and compliance across endpoints to protect businesses from costly cyberattacks and security breaches.
Seamlessly manage and deploy shared device mode
Previously, frontline workers using Microsoft 365 applications on shared devices had to individually sign in and out of each application at the beginning and end of their shifts. This made it difficult for frontline workers to quickly start their shift and to ensure their device was fully cleared when they gave the device to another employee.
In May 2023, shared device mode support for Outlook, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Viva Engage, and Power Apps on Android devices will be generally available, joining the portfolio of apps including Teams that can be securely accessed through Microsoft Intune.
In addition, manufacturers who utilize SOTI and VMWare Workspace ONE as their third-party unified endpoint management solutions for Android can enroll devices in Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), which is now in preview.
FUJIFILM Group is a domestic film manufacturer that has expanded its business in the four fields of healthcare, materials, business innovation, and imaging.
“When company information is managed, not only does file sharing need to be convenient but security must also be firmly guaranteed. Implementing Microsoft 365 was a good opportunity for us to be aware of governance as a team,” said Allan Feeney of the North American region of FUJIFILM.
Join Microsoft Teams at Hannover Messe 2023
We can’t wait to see you at Hannover Messe 2023 on April 17 to 21, 2023! Come visit us in Booth 14 to learn how you can accelerate frontline efficiency by streamlining operations, enhancing communication and collaboration, and increasing security with Teams.
1Technology Can Help Unlock a New Future for Frontline Workers, Microsoft. January 12, 2022.
2Microsoft Teams Empowers Frontline Workers and Drives Efficiency for Manufacturing Organizations, Forrester Consulting. July 2022.
3Microsoft unveils more features for RealWear users, RealWear. October 21, 2022.
4Up to 300% Increase in Attacks from Opportunistic Targeting, 2021 Global Threat Intelligence Report, NTT. May 11, 2021.
