Mobile Manufacturing

Making Advancesnearest store". This technology is often called "Call to
Technology and manufacturing have traditionally beenaction" and by responding to an advert the mobile
closely related, with advances in technology leadingowner has tacitly agreed for you to use their location
to changes in manufacturing - either in the productsinformation on a one-off basis. The system could use
produced on in how they are produced - andtheir location to send them the address or directions
changes in manufacturing affecting technology -to the nearest store selling the product.
through making technology more accessible via costReducing Overall Cost of Sales
reductions that occur through scale economies asWith an increasing number of manufacturers selling
well as advances in materials and methods.direct via the internet or even supplying straight to
retail outlets, SMS has the capability to play a big part
Anticipating future trends we can safely predict thatin assisting to reduce overall sales costs.
manufacturers will continue to adopt newIt has become possible for information sent in
technologies to take advantages of the capabilities,response to a text request from a customer (or
and cost reductions, they create, and in particular wedistributor) to be generated directly off a website
will see the widespread adoption of low costwith no major modifications to existing IT systems
communication technologies such as SMS1.and no changes to business processes. Roger Francis,
SMS was first introduced in the GSM2 specification inCEO of Make My Show (makemyshow.com), a
the late 1980's and was included by Norwegiancompany offering request based services, says "...a
engineers who wanted a simple messaging systemtypical client integration takes less than a day." So
that worked when the user's mobile phones weretext requests can provide a powerful, but simple,
switched off or out of signal range. SMS allows up tomechanism to get product information into
160 character messages to be sent to and from acustomer's hands quickly and if information is being
mobile phone. The first SMS was sent in 1992 and byfed from a website it is possible to capture the
2002 1 billion SMS per day were exchanged globally.phone number of the person who requested the
Manufacturing Applicationsinformation. So when a member of the sales team
Given the ability of SMS to reduce operating costs inreturns to their office they could log into the website
a number of areas and the low cost and relativeand be given full information of the products that
ease of adoption of SMS technology, it hashave been requested and the details of who has
widespread applicability to manufacturing and thisrequested them with a simple press of a button.
article explores some of the simplest ways thatIn fact using the "Call to action" technology offers a
manufacturers can benefit.superb sales and product information channel. It can
Out of Hoursnot only be used for standard SMS text messages
For businesses operating extended or unusual hours itbut for MMS4 that allows you to add images, audio
is not always economically possible to maintain aclips and video clips all delivered directly to a mobile.
complete set of support staff 'just in case' a problemWithin a few seconds of seeing an advert a potential
arises. This is particularly so with critical maintenancecustomer can be watching a 15-30 second video clip
personnel, senior management and engineers, butof your product.
with the fact that it is now becoming a social normReducing Costs of Procurement
for people to carry their mobile phones with them atWith the growing use of 'call off' contracts with
all times SMS is an ideal way of sending alerts withoutsuppliers, where a customer commits to ordering
the need for people to be on site. Obviously, such10,000 of an item but only pays for them as they
things as gaining permissions to contact and also'call them off' and use them (say in batches of
setting response times need to be considered, but1,000), it is possible to use SMS to place the
the net cost is substantially lower than having staffreplenishment order and this can even be controlled
available out of hours 'just in case'.by the operator working on the line or their
Team Communicationimmediate supervisor, significantly reducing the burden
Many organisations have a dispersed workforce andon procurement personnel whilst speeding up the
in manufacturing certain functions can be dispersed,procurement process.
such as sales teams, field service teams or evenThis system can work alongside traditional
engineering teams with different disciplines located atprocurement processes for more expensive items, as
different sites.well as being integrated into other 'automated call off'
SMS provides an ideal communication method fortechnologies such as webcams (which allow suppliers
maintaining contact with such dispersed teams, orto visually track stock levels left in certain locations)
even managerial staff who are 'on the shop-floor'or e-bans (which are standardised emails which
frequently. There are tools now available that allowtrigger a replenishment order against a set call off
bulk messages to be sent from a PC to a particularcontract).
group, such as Clickatell's Message Pro 3. Although forReducing Wasted Trips
a more personal communication method, say one toSMS messages can be used to check availability of
one with a particular sales person, it is possible to usepeople, so saving time and money. Prior to a delivery
a plug-in to MS Outlook. Many companies including(or even a sales trip) it is possible to send a message
Telemessaging give their outlook plug-ins away free,that reads "Your goods will be arriving the next 30
knowing you are then tied into using their messagingminutes - is someone available for receipt?" If there
service.is no response then the delivery could be postponed
This makes sending and receiving SMS messages assaving the cost of a wasted trip. Deliveries are
simple as sending and receiving emails and muchanother good example of location information, in
easier and less time consuming or costly than makingresponse to the question "Where is my delivery?" It
bulk telephone calls to pass a message to even awould be possible to provide a map on a website
small dispersed team, and as it is a two way process,giving the location of a customer's delivery.
the team are able to reply from their phones and itEnabling SMS
will be received as an email message.To enable manufacturers to make use of SMS
Tracking People & Productstechnology for commercial purposes using a PC,
Materials are the lifeblood of manufacturing andthere are two main mechanisms used to send SMS
knowing where your materials are and whether theymessages from a computer, one is via a standard
have reached the customer or are on their way frommobile phone the other is via an Internet based SMS
a supplier is an essential part of the role of manygateway, such as the one offered by MX Telecoms.
people inside manufacturers. Whilst it is becomingTo send an SMS from a computer via a mobile, they
increasingly common to use RFID3 in the role ofare first connected via a cable.
tracking individual items, the more widespreadSoftware on the computer then allows messages to
availability of SMS technology allows the drivers ofbe sent and received via the mobile phone. As the
vehicles to be tracked and therefore for entiremobile is sending the messages the cost is the same
shipments to be monitored and arrivals predicted.as sending normal SMS messages from the phone -
Coupled with this is the frequent need to knowwhich is dependent upon the tariff.
where critical personnel are (such as sales orThe second and most common method for sending
managerial personnel who may be on the road fromSMS messages from a computer is via an Internet
site to site) and using this to anticipate arrival times.SMS gateway. An SMS gateway is the link between
For a mobile to operate it has to be connected to athe internet and the operator's mobile networks.
nearby base station. As the site of the base stationWhen you send or receive SMS messages from a
is known it is also possible to know the location of acomputer what you're really doing is talking to a SMS
mobile. The accuracy of the location is dependentgateway via the internet. There are several methods
upon the density of base stations and can be fromfor communicating with gateways including very
tens of meters to a few hundred metres. As asimple options such as sending them an email. When
general rule of thumb, the greater the populationusing a SMS gateway messages are brought in bulk
density, the greater the accuracy of the location.and used as required.
Location information is very sensitive and is onlyConcluding Thoughts
provided in particular circumstances and normallyManufacturing in advanced economies competes
requires the owner of the mobile to explicitly giveprincipally through competitive advantage rather than
permission for its use. It is possible for a user to giveon price and manufacturers should be constantly
permission of location in a tacit manner. For examplescanning the commercial environment for changes in
we will use a sales situation where a new producttechnology that will benefit (or threaten) their
had been launched and is available only at certainbusiness and in the constant fight for ever improved
stores. Adverts could be produced that included theperformance, SMS can be a manufacturer's ally.
option "Text Location to [phone number] for your