Many of the challenges facing today’s manufacturers are known: a labor shortage, a widening skills gap, supply chain resilience, and digital transformation are among the most common ones. Yet a new productivity survey finds additional threats. 

In a Quickbase survey of 2,000 workers in the U.S. and United Kingdom on the state of work and productivity, 54% of respondents say it’s harder than ever to be productive.

It’s not for a lack of technology tools. Nine out of 10 respondents report feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of software applications they use daily. They’re stuck tackling tedious tasks when their time could be better spent on actions that make a real difference.

If workers in manufacturing are struggling to be productive, how exactly are they spending their time? The survey found that 58% spend 20 hours or less on meaningful work that drives results. A full 45% of respondents are spending 11 or more hours a week searching for information just to get their jobs done — so-called gray work. Think about that the next time you ask a colleague to reconcile data from the shop floor, an enterprise resource planning application, or the cloud. Or corporate requests a standardized safety protocol across all facilities. 

The Productivity Gap Widens

Many manufacturers (66%) are actively increasing investments in software designed theoretically to enhance productivity, work management and collaboration. Yet manual work is on the rise, with 39% of respondents reporting an increase over the past year. This can create an even wider productivity gap, as workers spend more time tracking down information from all their resources, then re-keying that information into more spreadsheets or applications, creating a crisis of confidence in the data. (Only 11% report being extremely confident about project data.) This puts shop floors at risk of falling behind and working inefficiently, compromising schedules, productivity or, worse, the reliability of processes and employee safety.

Manufacturers learned long ago that the problem isn’t technology as much as it is connecting sources of information throughout the company. As reluctant as manufacturers may be to acknowledge their reliance on paper-based recordkeeping in pockets of their organization, this, too, is a reality. These are the key drivers of integrating digital technologies into every aspect of the business, with the goal of improving efficiency and productivity.

Yet even with systems that are specifically designed to work together, collaboration is often not as simple as manufacturers hope. This leads to a reliance on multiple ERPs and project management systems, with more as 69% of survey participants saying the use of multiple systems prohibits them from easily sharing project-related information. As a result, their ability to scale processes when managing complex projects is limited. 

While digital transformation remains a work in progress, manufacturers are moving toward centralizing information, and AI offers the promise of even greater productivity. 

 Interest is high among manufacturers, with 92% curious about AI-powered tools that can potentially enhance productivity and efficiency. However, that interest is tempered by the concern about data reliability, with 90% of respondents expressing some level of doubt about the accuracy of information. Bridging the gap between AI’s potential and manufacturers’ valid concerns about data integrity will require addressing underlying systems and structure. Specifically, 94% are concerned about the risks of AI in matters of data security, compliance and privacy. AI’s benefits, after all, rely on proper data governance, so without better data security and management, AI can never reach its full potential in manufacturing.

Steps to Boosting Productivity

Done right, digital transformation and AI can accelerate productivity. But if we have too many digital tools built to solve a single problem, they create more work, due to lack of clarity and consistent information. The first step is to get data where it needs to be — accurate, consistent and not maintained in a variety of spreadsheets, databases or other silos of information. This includes data from every part of the organization, connecting the shop floor and stakeholders across the supply chain.

Since some of the most impactful work happens in the field or on the shop floor, making the connection to workers and their data on the job is critical to the back office. Instead of relying on manual processes and after-the-fact reporting, capture it in real time. From there, the data should be streamlined and centralized onto a dynamic work management platform.

Next is automation and collaboration to accelerate workflows, allowing employees to spend more time on meaningful work and less on tedious, redundant tasks, manual processes, or blind searches for information. When employees can easily access information and automate processes, they make better decisions faster. 

Third, establish strong data governance policies. This closes the gap between IT and the day-to-day business, while empowering workers with the accurate information they need to produce more impactful work. 

As more digital tools enter the workplace, and AI continues to evolve, productivity will remain at risk. Yet a manufacturer that’s able to centralize and streamline information, and safeguard data integrity, will be able to adapt to any changes more easily in the workflow, therefore accelerating productivity. 

Anthony Offredi is director of customer advocacy with Quickbase.