COVID-19 is changing everything in manufacturing. Companies face a long journey to the “next normal,” one that will likely have far-reaching financial and operational implications. Immediate priorities include creating a safe work environment for production employees, and this is top of mind for manufacturing leaders. Missteps could invoke legal or regulatory actions, something all companies want to avoid.
As many manufacturers enter the Recover phase of COVID-19, one that is marked by restarting production at plants in regions that have been impacted differently by virus outbreaks, workforce safety becomes a critical priority. The restart/ramp-up should generate considerations across the work itself, the workforce, and the workplace. Production leaders could consider the following types of questions to help them navigate workforce safety and develop a comprehensive plan through this period:
· Work: How will new physical distancing constraints and supply/demand variability be incorporated into operations? Are there opportunities to remove humans from processes through automation and/or robotics?
· Workforce: How will workers “feel” safe and come back to work willingly? What new policies and procedures are required to protect employees, reduce risk of spread (e.g. personal protective equipment (PPE), break room policies)?
· Workplace: What physical/operational changes are necessary to meet health and safety requirements? What technologies and solutions could create a safer work environment in plants and facilities?
A holistic approach toward the recovery phase should include solutions that address all three of these areas. It will likely blend strategy and process changes with advanced technologies to drive success. And, it is undeniable that advanced technologies can hold the key to a much more robust recovery for manufacturers. Fortunately, some of the smart factory technologies that many manufacturers have already been piloting, such as analytics, sensors and wearables, could dramatically accelerate the pathway to recovery.
In the 2019 Deloitte and MAPI Smart Factory Study, 71% of manufacturing respondents reported using data analytics in their smart factory initiatives; 54% were using active and passive sensors; and 29% were using wearables. These technologies are already paving the way toward smart manufacturing and could be used to support use cases for worker safety in this unprecedented recover phase.
Figure 1: Manufacturers using a variety of advanced technologies for smart factory initiatives
Source: 2019 Deloitte and MAPI Smart Factory Study
What does this look like from an actionable perspective? The study also identified a collection of “use cases” for smart factory initiatives that combine business processes and workstreams with advanced technology. A few of the use cases stand out as potential viable opportunities for manufacturers during the recovery phase.
Digital Twin/Virtual Factory Tour
This use case often combines Virtual Reality (VR) of production line configuration with analytics to enable production leaders to simulate operations and identify hot spots or bottlenecks. In a COVID recovery use case, the same technology can be used to perform a virtual, off-site factory tour with rapid remote collaboration among leaders to gain critical context into the working nature of the operations without having to physically “walk the line.” Outcomes could include new workstation layout designs or modified production line density.
As production managers consider how to facilitate restarting/ramping-up in the best way possible, the insights from a virtual factory tour can help prioritize and coordinate the response. Advanced technologies that can be used for this include 360-degree cameras and digital scanning tools to create a digital 3D representation of the facility, and digital twin software with VR simulations that enable remote leaders to observe simulated production and identify workarounds.
Augmented Workforce Efficiency/Safety
This smart factory use case can often include a variety of advanced technologies to help with workforce training, wayfinding, and lifting or production assistance. In COVID recovery use cases, the same technology can be used to enforce PPE, sanitation, and new standard operating procedures; support transparent communications with the workforce; and manage, detect, reduce, and react to virus outbreaks. Manufacturers are installing thermal-imaging devices to detect potential fevers; they’re using sensor-based technology to prevent unnecessary physical contact with surfaces such as auto-opening doors; and they’re deploying wearables like buzzing wristbands and mobile device apps for workers to maintain safe physical distances from each other in the factory setting. In addition, companies are deploying augmented reality apps that enable remote employee training of new safety protocols or can be used train workers that may need to move to other production areas to fill in for coworkers that are in quarantine or ill.
The road to recovery through technology
The examples above illustrate the opportunity for manufacturers to adapt some of the use cases they may have been piloting for smart factory initiatives to address the current recovery phase in manufacturing environments. While each factory or plant is unique, we’ve identified five common manufacturing archetypes that define most operations.
Figure: Five common manufacturing archetypes for a worker safety assessment.
Source: Deloitte
By identifying their archetype, and then considering the specifics of their environment related to employee density, level of automation, material flows, and physical infrastructure, manufacturing leaders can develop a more comprehensive approach to the restart/ramp-up phase. Here is a suggested two-step approach that can facilitate the process:
1. Implement advanced technologies that are focused on areas like external entry controls, workforce training, and safety-related Standard Operating Procedures to address immediate needs for resuming operations more safely. This can be achieved within a week using pre-configured solutions.
2. Perform an assessment across the three categories of work, workforce, and workplace to identify readiness and design a strategy and a phased-in approach that will define the “next” normal in production operations.
Manufacturers that focus on their immediate restart/ramp-up needs while also planning for longer-term changes that will need to take place can be well-positioned to recover and thrive longer term. Advanced technologies may hold the key to facilitating this next phase of recovery for many manufacturers. Whether already running with smart factory initiatives, or just getting started prior to the coronavirus, manufacturers can’t afford to delay adoption of technology that can foster a safe production environment and restore productivity.
Peter Heron is Principal, Manufacturing & Supply Chain, Deloitte.
COVID-19 has changed how manufacturers work. Many employees began to work remotely when the pandemic hit the United States in earnest — and many continue to do so, even after businesses in some states have tried to reopen their facilities with modified working conditions.
While this forced move toward a distributed workforce has prompted many changes in how businesses operate, one that should be of particular concern is the way corporate data is now being trafficked across home networks, which businesses don’t control and manage — and which don’t necessarily conform to company cybersecurity standards.
This inevitable outcome of working from home means that all manufacturers need to revisit and heighten their cybersecurity protocols to account for remote working conditions. Not doing so could leave them vulnerable to forms of cyberattack that are already emerging in response to the changing landscape of how we work.
How Have Conditions Changed?
Chances are, your remote workers handle sensitive information of one form or another — e.g., financial records, employee records, or restricted materials such as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) covered by the Department of Defense’s DFARS cybersecurity standards.
Hackers are well aware that this sort of information is being accessed via computers and other devices, such as mobile phones, that are connected to home networks. Chances are, these networks abide by much less stringent cybersecurity standards than corporate workplaces with mature IT policies. This has produced some significant changes in the patterns governing corporate cyberattacks over the last few months.
First and foremost, the focus of the attacks has shifted from corporate networks to home networks, which increasingly provide access points to corporate data centers, despite the fact that they are often shared with family members who operate non-secure equipment. During late March/early April, one of Maryland MEP’s partners, Epoch, Inc., observed an 800% increase in cyberattacks to IP addresses associated with client home offices.
Epoch also noted a resurgence in PDF and Visual Basic Script (VBS) viruses, which are often shared as bogus Microsoft Word documents with the .doc or .docx file extension. This is likely in response to the rise in online commerce and communications during this time. As we increasingly go online to handle day-to-day needs like shopping and schooling, we expect to receive tracking documents related to online orders or policy documents from schools or summer camps, making us more inclined to open documents that we shouldn’t.
Similarly, new channels are being used to circulate malicious links. While 91% of all cyberattacks originate via email according to Epoch, bad links are increasingly shared via text, false LinkedIn network invites, QR codes, and Zoombombing.
Lastly, there have been significant changes in the timing of the attacks. Traditionally, social engineering–based cyberattacks would happen during normal business hours as cybercriminals sought to catch people at their workstations. In late March/early April, the timing of these attacks shifted to include all hours of the day, as well as weekends. As the patterns of our working hours have shifted, so have the attacks. This means that businesses are facing nearly constant threats from external sources.
How to Respond to These New Conditions
The most important thing you can do to adapt to these changing cybersecurity conditions is to make a plan. For many, the root cause of vulnerability is simply that they weren’t prepared. Either they don’t have plans to deal with present conditions or their plans are outdated.
Questions you should ask yourself as you go about making a plan include:
- Does your company have an acceptable use policy for remote access to company servers and systems? This will give employees clear protocols for accessing information, as well as limit their access to the data they need to do their job, helping to protect your entire system from infiltration should something go wrong.
- Is your employee cyber-awareness training effective? Employees are your first line of defense and need to be educated about company cybersecurity policies. These sessions don't have to be boring or drawn out.
- Do you tag data to track logins and usage? It may seem cumbersome, but implementing systems to track data will lay the foundation for you to monitor usage going forward, allowing you to identify unusual occurrences that could indicate you are under attack.
- If you have to recover from a cyberattack, do you have the means to do it? If you prepare up front, including rehearsing scenarios through tabletop exercises, you can manage the risk in the event something happens.
But developing a plan — and subsequently implementing it — takes time, which may be time you feel like you don’t have at the moment. Many businesses are, understandably, asking, “What can I do right now?”
Fortunately, there are several easy-to-implement tactics that you can execute to improve the cyber health of your newly distributed company right now:
- Update your antivirus software and make sure all software patches are current.
- Use the most enhanced security features available for your business software (e.g., Microsoft 365).
- Encrypt data by using a virtual private network (VPN) for remote access and encrypt any company hard drives.
- Turn your spam filter up. (If you don’t have one, get one!)
- Share documents via secure cloud-based platforms vs. emailing them directly to coworkers.
- Implement dual-factor authentication.
- Have your employees update their home routers so that they are not using default network names, logins, and passwords.
Where to Turn for Cybersecurity Help as Conditions Persist
Current headlines indicate that remote work is expected to continue for the foreseeable future at many companies. In other words, distributed working conditions are our “new normal.”
Manufacturers, like all businesses, have to begin to adapt to these conditions in a deliberate, strategic fashion. There’s no magic solution that is going to make cyberthreats go away; cybersecurity is an ongoing process of risk mitigation that all companies have to take seriously.
A good starting place, which has been designed specifically with manufacturers and small businesses in mind, is the NIST cybersecurity framework. It includes five steps in a revolving process designed to help companies institute a level of security that will reduce risk so that you can confidently do business using the IT systems modern manufacturers rely on.
The NIST cybersecurity framework is also a way to address the cybersecurity requirements for participating in an increasing number of supply chains, including defense and automotive.
Maryland MEP and other Manufacturing Extension Partnership Centers in the MEP National Network, led by NIST MEP, are uniquely positioned to help manufacturers get a handle on cybersecurity. If you have questions about this increasingly important and urgent area, I encourage you to connect with your local MEP Center.
Mike Kelleher
Michael Kelleher has 20 years of experience in providing leadership, consulting, and advisory services to both public and private sector clients with a focus on manufacturing and industry. He has been instrumental in building the new Maryland MEP Center, integrating best practices, lessons learned and operational programs from throughout the MEP National Network with a focus on operational excellence, long-term growth and workforce development.
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