What will the shop floor of the future look like?

Industrial automation will definitely take over the factories of the future, but not just for digitizing manual tasks. With a more evolved automation, they will be able to make human and machine interactions much simpler—much like a conversation between peers. Factory personnel will no longer have to type critical work details into computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) or other industry software hours after a job; AI-powered assistants will come to their rescue, capturing tribal knowledge and surfacing whatever insights they need through an intuitive and accurate voice interface.

Seems utopian? Although this might seem far-fetched, foresighted technology solution providers like Genba are already bringing such factory modernization up to speed. With its blend of design and innovation, Genba has developed a trained speech-to-text AI-powered solution designed to revolutionize how the shop floor operates.

The intelligent mobile solution can be directly integrated with existing software systems and processes, so that whatever shop floor technicians are conducting work orders, Genba acts as an omniscient virtual assistant. For instance, technicians can access asset history, recall troubleshooting instructions, get insights, and take real-time notes by voice during the job—all within seconds. As a result, the shop floor technicians and workers don’t have to rush to computerized interfaces, fumble with poor mobile interfaces, or waste time and effort talking to others to get the information they need for the job.

Tomorrow’s Shop Floor Today!

Even in today’s era of digitalization, most shop floors are missing the mark in terms of unlocking the full potential of their software investments. “The reason for this is quite simple; most software just wasn’t designed to facilitate the knowledge-intensive, hands-free, and often collaborative workflows of technicians and other deskless workers,” says Bruce Kaufman, co-founder and CEO of Genba.So, even if a technician or a worker can access critical information or enter new data digitally, they often won’t because the interface is manual, small, and often difficult to navigate, defeating the entire point of digitizing shop floor operations in the first place.

The reason for this is quite simple; most software just wasn’t designed to facilitate the knowledge-intensive, hands-free, and often collaborative workflows of technicians and other deskless workers

Furthermore, most shop floor software’s primary use case is to track assets, time, and inventory; they are not designed to facilitate better communication and knowledge transfer between workers. But, Genba is here to change this paradigm for the entire manufacturing industry.

Since Genba’s solution is built from the bottom up (with technicians, for technicians) and integrated with a factory’s existing systems, it acts as a conduit for information exchange—be it human-machine or human-human. Whether a technician needs to pull up historical asset information, pass new information into the database, or cascade work and knowledge to an incoming shift, Genba allows them to do it through an intuitive, voice-driven interface, no matter where they are on the shop floor. And since the speech-to-text AI is trained on the shop floor teams’ specific vocabulary (through integration with CMMS), it can accurately understand technician commands, even in noisy plant environments.

Guiding the Clients to the Future of Voice-Enabled Automation

Today, Genba is enabling some of the biggest industrial organizations to unlock the full potential of voice-enabled functions. A notable case in point is GE Power (General Electric)—a leader in power generation, which is seeking Genba’s expertise to take its shop floor capabilities to the next level.

“GE Power undoubtedly had an excellent workforce and equipment, but there was no effective connection layer between the workers, their database of knowledge, and the machines,” shares Kaufman. Because of their demanding work environment and lack of effective tools, very little real-time data capture was happening, requiring technicians to enter notes at the end of the shift from memory, and limiting both productivity and knowledge capture.

Also, whenever technicians had to conduct troubleshooting on equipment, they had to manually search through asset history on a computer, track down other workers, call previous shifts, and otherwise build up a picture of what happened, which extended downtime and caused unneeded stress. In their quest to bring better information exchange within the shop floor and facilitate a seamless human-machine interaction, GE Power decided to integrate Genba’s intelligent solution.

Today, the technicians at GE Power can easily manage and organize their work orders using Genba’s intelligent solution. When conducting work orders or performing troubleshooting functions, floor personnel can easily access whatever information they need while also recording and capturing certain steps for future reference. Owing to Genba’s solution, GE Power has witnessed a substantial improvement in its productivity, knowledge capture, and data accuracy. Moreover, the rich data collected by Genba’s solution is helping the client to set preventive maintenance schedules, avoid downtimes on the shop floor, and train the next generation of technicians.

The enthusiastic reception of Genba’s intelligent solution by industrial giants like GE Power has only reinforced the company’s value proposition of introducing simplicity and intelligence into the shop floor operations. In the next step of its innovation journey, Genba intends to incorporate video capture with tagging features along with its voice-enabled solution, thus opening new doors for shop floor automation. The company is also wishful to expand its footprint on a global scale, augmenting its shop floor capabilities to a broader audience. By continually improving its speech-to-text AI, the company will ensure that its clients are always one step ahead of the curve in the shop floor evolution. Therefore, the future looks bright for Genba!