Facing the unenviable challenge of meeting soaring customer expectations whilst keeping workers safe in dangerous and hazardous environments is a constant battle for manufacturers. There are undoubtedly many steps that you can and are taking every day to ensure safety measures are met and if the worst should happen a quick and effective response can be made.

DOES COMMUNICATIONS HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN SAFETY?

The simple and quick answer is yes. Communication can transform plant safety by connecting people with a seamless real-time flow of information. The reason for my emphasis on the word ‘can’ is simple; communication devices do indeed offer the potential for ensuring safety but to truly reach their potential it’s the design, applications and accessories that complement them that bring a fully optimised safe environment.

7 RADIO FEATURES NEEDED FOR TRUE SAFETY
When a radio is treated as more than just a device to talk over, that’s when safety is optimised. These 7 features illustrate just this point:-

1. LONE WORKER: Designed for personnel working alone in isolated environments, Lone Worker remotely monitors worker activity and initiates an emergency if a worker fails to respond to periodic alerts.

2. MAN DOWN: Enhances the safety of workers by monitoring movement (or lack of movement!). Man Down triggers an emergency alert when a radio is tilted (for example if the user has been injured and is lying on the floor), or if they remain still for a period of time. This allows operators to identify when a worker has become incapacitated and call for assistance.

3. REMOTE MONITOR: Allows a radio user to remotely activate another radio’s microphone and transmitter. This feature is especially useful if Man Down has been triggered, or when supervisors need to monitor the activity of a worker to check safety standards are being met.

4. VOX (Voice Activated Communications): Enables a worker to respond to a request hands-free using a compatible headset. The radio is enabled automatically when audio is connected, allowing the worker to talk while carrying boxes or working on machinery.

5. PPT (Push-to-Talk): Whole work teams can communicate instantaneously with a single button push. The large PTT button on MOTOTRBO™ radios makes communication easier than ever, even for workers wearing gloves.

6. INTELLIGENT AUDIO: Factories can be noisy places and workers need to hear and be heard clearly. MOTOTRBO radios adjust volume automatically in line with fluctuating background noise to ensure commands are not misunderstood and requests for help ignored.

7. RUGGED DESIGN: ATEX radios are designed, built and approved to operate in hazardous and potentially explosive environments with advanced ergonomics, large displays and buttons, intuitive user interface and built-in GPS for location tracking.

Harnessing the full functionality of radios and applications designed specifically to enhance safety is what it takes to ensure you can both prevent as many incidents as possible, or at the very least be prepared to take action if something does happen.

To discover more about the true potential of radio communication across the factory floor – not just for safety but also for boosting production and efficiency – download your copy of our communication guide.

If you’d like to join the conversation about communication in hazardous environments, we’d be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

Sean Fitzgerald is Senior Solutions Marketing Manager at Motorola Solutions
Connect with Sean on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sean-fitzgerald/1/705/4a0

WHAT DOES INTELLIGENT COMMUNICATION LOOK LIKE?

When you consider communicating in today’s world, because of the technology at our disposal, there’s an expectation that everything should run smoothly. Sat in my office I often join conference calls where the first few minutes are spent adjusting my settings so I can hear, or be heard and it’s not just me, others suffer the same frustration.

This got me thinking. Take the relatively quiet environment I work in and it strikes me that us office workers have it easy when trying to talk with colleagues when compared with the loud, hazardous and frantic world of the factory floor. Not to mention the added pressure of every second counting when it comes to ensuring orders get out on time. From communicating the everyday instructions, right through to situations where unplanned downtime strikes or a worker’s safety is at risk they're many reasons why a communication platform in a manufacturing plant needs a high degree of reliability and intelligence.

Working for Motorola Solutions it’s reassuring to know that when our product teams go to the drawing board to either innovate new products or update existing ones the first step is to listen to our customers and what they want.

We appreciate that for manufacturers a radio is not just a radio - it needs to be more than just a device for voice communication. It is relied upon to enable today’s productivity, identify future efficiencies and always will always be a key device in ensuring employee safety. Combine this with the challenging environment that I mentioned earlier and it’s not easy to come up with a device that’s up to the job.

I would say the top five features a manufacturer should look out for when you are are considering a radio device fit for purpose are;

• Superior audio quality with noise cancelling functionality
• Mandown / lone worker applications to ensure worker safety
• Work ticket ordering to assign tasks more effectively
• Optimised to last a shift with longer battery life and greater range coverage
• ATEX certification for potentially explosive environments

But these are just the top five, take a look at our Communication Guide for Manufacturers which unveils the latest incarnation of our MOTOTRBO™ two-way digital radios. Built, as always with you in mind, this is intelligent radio for the smart, connected manufacturer.

I’m now about to jump on a conference call, wish me luck!

If you’d like to join the conversation about communication in hazardous environments, we’d be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

Sean Fitzgerald is Senior Solutions Marketing Manager at Motorola Solutions
Connect with Sean on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sean-fitzgerald/1/705/4a0

BE SMART, BE INTEGRATED
HOW TO KEEP PRODUCTION LINES MOVING

It’s tough out there. Increasing pressure to hit production targets in a highly competitive global market. The ever present spectre of unplanned downtime. Skill shortages and rising overtime costs. How do today’s manufacturers improve performance, optimise resources and run their operation efficiently? By integrating plant communications, that’s how.

UP TO 20% OF PROFITS LOST DUE TO UNPLANNED DOWNTIME¹

The facts speak for themselves. Downtime is the nemesis of production managers. Whether it’s due to failed machinery or worker injury, downtime creates missed deadlines, lost revenue and unhappy customers. And the longer you take to respond to downtime, the worse the impact is.

The key therefore is to react fast. But how? By making sure workers have access to real-time information. If machinery fails or a worker falls ill, the right people need to know right away. They need to spot the problem immediately and put an action plan in place to get the production line up and running without delay.

ALMOST 50% OF MANUFACTURERS SAY DIGITAL RADIOS REDUCE DOWNTIME BY 10 - 20%²

The secret is to integrate plant communications. To give workers the information they need, when and where they need it. To extend traditional communications beyond just human interaction so people are not just linked to people but also to machines and processes. By integrating and targeting voice and data communications, reactivity can be increased and response times reduced.

Digital two-way radios are increasingly being used across manufacturing plants to do just that. Coverage is wider and voice quality clearer than traditional communications. Battery life is longer and with digital technology, workers can benefit from advanced safety applications such as Lone Worker and Man Down. Access to real-time intelligence means everyone from technicians and drivers to supervisors and security staff is empowered to work more efficiently.

Whilst radios provide excellent lines of communication, today’s mobile workforce creates an even bigger obstacle for integrated communications that also needs to be addressed. A truly integrated workforce needs a communication infrastructure that connects everyone, regardless of where they are and what device they are using. WAVE Work Group Communications is the bridge that overcomes this problem. An interoperable application that doesn’t care if workers use a radio, smart phone, laptop, landline or tablet - no one is beyond reach, everyone is integrated.

Today’s forward-thinking manufacturers are discovering that with improved collaboration comes faster problem resolution and better productivity. Despite the inevitable disruptions that occur, machinery runs at full speed for longer, targets are met, costs are reduced, future orders are protected and customer expectations exceeded.

READ THE 'KEEPING PRODUCTION MOVING WITH INTEGRATED PLANT COMMUNICATIONS' whitepaper and see how you can optimise production by connecting your workforce.

If you’d like to join the conversation about communication in hazardous environments, we’d be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

BEING SMART IS BEING SAFE

Factories can be dangerous places and with over 32 million¹ employed in this sector across the EU, safety cannot be compromised.

Whilst reports of accidents are falling right across the industry, it's still a concern. In Britain alone, around 10% of all workforce fatalities and nearly 20% of reported non-fatal injuries occurred in manufacturing last year with 14% of major injuries involving moving machinery². Making factories safer has to be a priority for every responsible manufacturer and smart technology is providing a solution.

How is it doing that? By providing more automated production lines with fewer workers handling machinery. By linking people and equipment together so everyone and everything knows exactly what is happening in real-time. By immediately identifying danger and triggering alerts for a rapid response.

But for all this to work, communication has to evolve. Workers deployed in hazardous areas need the protection of a dedicated radio that's designed for the environment and capable of connecting everyone together securely and seamlessly. Rugged MOTOTRBO™ radios do that with voice and data communications that are not compromised in areas of high noise and poor reception. Safety is built in to these radios with applications such as Lone Worker and Man Down allowing supervisors to monitor staff in isolated areas and spot if a worker becomes incapacitated.

Another important consideration is incompatibility between devices and networks. Smart technology like Motorola's WAVE Workgroup Communications gets around this problem by ensuring all workers can communicate with each other, whichever device they're using from two-way radios to smartphones, tablets or landlines.

When incidents happen or emergencies strike, everyone needs to be connected, wherever and whenever they're working. Smart technology gets the right message to the right people at the right time for the fastest possible response.

BE SAFE - OUR NEW PODCAST EXPLAINS ALL
LISTEN NOW

If you'd like to join the conversation about how to maximise the efficiency of manufacturing plants through smart technology and communication solutions, we'd be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

What impact could smart factories have on productivity?
One claim is that manufacturing productivity could be boosted by up to 30%¹.

SO WHAT IS THE SMART FACTORY AND HOW CAN YOU BENEFIT?

Inspired by The Internet of Things the smart factory is a production model where operations are connected across the plant. At the heart of the smart factory is the coordination of machinery and personnel and the idea that with everyone and everything inter-connected, production proceeds smoothly and seamlessly.

The benefits are significant. Advanced robotics speed up production lines, increasing efficiency. New techniques such as 3D printing enhance output quality and provide customers with exciting new solutions. Order personalisation allows manufacturers to move away from mass production and produce to individual customer requirements. And when things go wrong - up to 20% of profits are lost every year due to unplanned downtime - smart technology minimises the impact with sensors on the production line that quickly identify problems and send alarm tickets to the radios of maintenance staff.

Communication is the key ingredient in a smart factory. It’s all about connecting the workforce using devices designed for the environment. Our MOTOTRBO™ radios are ideal, as they include a range of productivity-focused features such as enhanced voice quality to counter loud noise, extended battery life for long shifts and better reception coverage. Add in smart applications like WAVE Workgroup Communications so every worker can communicate with one another, irrespective of the device they’re using, and you have a complete communication solution that will optimise operations.

DISCOVER MORE - LISTEN THE LATEST PODCAST IN OUR
'SMARTER FACTORIES. SAFER WORKERS. PRODUCTIVITY TRANSFORMED' SERIES HERE.

OR DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN TO THE FIRST RECORDING WHERE YOU CAN HEAR ME DISCUSS
HOW SMART TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING THE FACE OF MANUFACTURING.

If you’d like to join the conversation about how to maximise the your investment in technology to bring to life the smart factory, we’d be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

SMARTER FACTORIES. SAFER WORKERS. PRODUCTIVITY TRANSFORMED

FACT: The global forecast for advanced manufacturing by 2020 is €750 billion¹

FACT: Over 32 million are employed in the manufacturing sector across the EU²

FACT: A recent report concluded that investing in smart factories could boost British manufacturing productivity by up to 30%³ . That’s an impressive statistic that will resonate with all manufacturers, regardless of location, striving to create more profitability and counter aggressive competition in the wake of a recession.

Here we see a big challenge facing today’s manufacturers - how to be safer and more productive. One solution is the smart factory. Inspired by the Internet of Things, it links people, machinery and processes - the smart factory relies on intelligent systems to connect operations across the whole plant so managers are far better placed to monitor and manage people and assets – and therefore, optimise operations and safety.

It’s an exciting concept. Manufacturers are increasingly adopting smart technology like robotics and 3D printing to speed up production lines, improve output quality and enable order personalisation. These new tools can help drive efficiency, but to really take advantage of them, they need to be connected together and for staff to form a single, coherent, plant-wide system. Unplanned downtime can cut profits by up to 20%⁴ - by connecting everyone and everything with monitoring equipment and secure, reliable radio communications, issues can be detected and resolved as quickly as possible.

Productivity optimised, safety enhanced. The smart factory is set to transform operations for many manufacturers. Will you be one of them?

If you’d like to join the conversation about how to maximise the your investment in technology to bring to life the smart factory, we’d be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

In today's manufacturing environment ‘Smart Factories’ and ‘Industry 4.0’ are just two of the terms that are shaping the direction the industry is heading in. Driven by technological advances, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), every stage of the supply chain could become an integrated network transferring data instantaneously, resulting in greater automation and accelerated production cycles.

Smart manufacturing is almost exclusively referred to in terms of technological enhancements to machinery to connect them to a network that transfers data in real-time. What is rarely considered in this evolution is the role the communication network could play across the workforce and what benefits can be drawn from such enhancements.

For years there has been an enforced disconnect between colleagues and departments because of the sheer expanse of plants, nature of having a mobile workforce and rollout of different communication devices (mobiles, desk phones and radios) across job roles. Now we discover that almost 60 percent of manufacturers see connecting two-way radios to other devices as important and 92 percent specifically want to connect radios to smartphones¹.

Whilst the smart factory is a vision of the future with real merit in terms of improving efficiencies, reducing waste and production cycles it is not a solution that can be rolled out immediately with little investment. The same cannot be said for business-critical communications; the workforce already exists, they already have communication devices, the missing piece is that they are just not connected. Until now.

Every device, every network, every team connected like never before.

Building on existing investment and leveraging broadband technologies, WAVE Work Group Communications from Motorola Solutions ensures the right people are connected when required, wherever they are, whatever they do. From two-way radios to smartphones, laptops to landlines, tablets to rugged handhelds no one is beyond reach.

These are exciting times for an industry that, in the wake of the global financial crisis, has had significant struggles to overcome in recent years. The resurgence in manufacturing at home in order to secure a stable economy means £11bn a year is now being invested in innovation within the EU². If this investment leads to the smart factory and machine-to-machine connectivity that can only be a good thing but it’s not going to happen overnight – especially for the smaller or midsize plants.

Capitalising on investments that have already been made to encourage a workforce to collaborate without obstacle is something that can be done today and with immediate results.

To discover more about WAVE Work Group Communications and the power it has to unlock greater efficiency download this whitepaper.

If you’d like to join the conversation about communication in across the plant floor, we’d be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

¹2015 Study: Innovations in Plant Communications, Motorola Solutions, 2015.
²Manufacturing Our Future in Europe, EEF, 2013

59% OF MANUFACTURERS BELIEVE IMPROVING COLLABORATION AND COMMUNICATION WILL HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON REACHING BUSINESS GOALS

There’s no question that in today’s world communication, messages and data are everywhere and we thrive on it. In our personal lives we relish the 24 hour access to what’s happening with friends and family and we are fully bought into to this on a personal level. But what about in the workplace, is communication considered intrinsic to the success of achieving business goals? And, if so, is it given the correct care and attention when it comes to choosing just how the workforce is going to communicate?

A recent study – Workforce Communications in Commercial Operations conducted by IDG Connect on behalf of Motorola Solutions uncovered that nearly 60% of respondents identified improvements to collaboration and communication would have the greatest impact on achieving business goals. This was followed by streamlining processes (54%) and speeding up time it takes to resolve unplanned downtime (50%); arguably both of these are entwined with having effective and reliable channels of communication as well.

With communication being identified as one of the key drivers in a business’s success you’d naturally assume that it would be a priority to ensure that the devices rolled out amongst staff were up to the job. It appears not.

Unsurprisingly the smartphone is the most common device used within commercial operations today – and I’m not saying they don’t have their place amongst the workforce – but they don’t work for everyone in every situation. On a loud factory floor, out in a remote location, within a dense area of buildings and structures a mobile phone just won’t do. And that’s why battery life, noisy environments and signal coverage are listed as the top gripes for businesses today.

The alternative? MOTOTRBO™ digital two-way radios! Of course, I would say that, but let me explain the reasoning behind my suggestion. As I said above, smartphones do have their place within the workforce but there needs to be an acknowledgement that a person’s job and working environment should influence what device they are given. Consider the leading complaints for current communication rollouts and see how Motorola Solutions’ MOTOTRBO portfolio stands up.

BETTER VOICE QUALITY: When you use a mobile phone or a legacy analogue radio, every sound that’s picked up by the microphone is transmitted. MOTOTRBO’s digital technology applies noise reduction and error correction to focus purely on your voice, reducing machine clatter or noise around you.

BETTER BATTERY LIFE: : Battery life that lasts a full shift is a big challenge for all mobile devices. But because digital technology is much more energy-efficient, it reduces battery drain and improves talk time.

BETTER COVERAGE: While all radio signals grow fainter the further they go out MOTOTRBO maintains voice integrity to the very ends of the coverage areas, regardless of environmental factors and blackspots or interference.

Then there’s the rugged, compact, waterproof discreet design and in-built capabilities....

If you would like to know more about the common issues surrounding workforce communication that others in the commercial sector are facing download the full survey here. As well as what’s happening today there’s also insight into the future of communications, including the applications and functionality seen as essential to drive businesses forward.

If you’d like to join the conversation about how to maximise the efficiency across the factory floor and beyond, we’d be delighted to welcome you to the Motorola Solutions Community EMEA LinkedIn Group.

The chemical and refining industry represents one of the most extreme working environments - not only for the workers who have to complete their tasks within tight deadlines, but also for the technical equipment used for their safety and support. For instance, devices for mission-critical communications have to be ATEX-certified, allowing use in environments that contain potentially explosive gas and dust.

Motorola Solutions has now been selected by one of the leading integrated science and technology companies -Dow Chemical - to tackle these exact challenges and establish an independent communication platform across their operations in the Netherlands. We are very proud to have been chosen to implement our state-of-the-art, proven TETRA digital radio solutions at the Dutch premises of Dow Chemical together with our longstanding and experienced partner Flash Services Netherlands.

Due to its sophisticated transmission technology, our TETRA solution permits Dow Chemical's workers to conduct interference-free, secure and clear voice calls even in the presence of loud background noise at the facilities. The contract scope includes the delivery of a future-proof Dimetra IP Compact solution, Motorola MTP850Ex ATEX TETRA portable radios, Motorola MTM5400 TETRA mobile radios as well as MTS4 and MTS1 TETRA base stations for more than 880 users.

"We are always striving to connect chemistry and innovation, generating new ways to solve global challenges and to improve the work of our employees around the world. This is why we have chosen the future-proof TETRA technology from Motorola Solutions, which provides us with the best terminals and infrastructure on the market and enables our workers to complete their tasks as securely and efficiently as possible."
- Kees Deurloo, Project Manager, Dow Chemical in the Benelux

Rob Sliedrecht, Director Government & Public Safety, Motorola Solutions
Netherlands & Belgium