News & Insights

Women In Manufacturing – The Future of Women in Manufacturing

The future of Women in Manufacturing is promising as the industry continues to evolve. Let’s take a look at some of the factors that signify a growing future for Women in Manufacturing.

How AI Can Support The Evolution From Process Changes To Centreline Including Multi-site Sharing.

Centrelines (CL) or Process Settings (PS) are used by all manufacturing businesses to ensure a piece of equipment can operate to the standards expected. CL’s and PS are often interchangeable in that many fulfil the same function.

Navigating Proposed Revisions to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) Part 2

In this blog we are going to take a closer look at how a Connected Worker Platform like Zaptic specifically could help you navigate these proposed revisions.

Women in Manufacturing- An Interview with Meaghan Ziemba

Introducing Mavens of Manufacturing host, Meaghan Ziemba. Meaghan is passionate about celebrating women and storytelling, ensuring that women have representation within the manufacturing industry specifically.

The Critical Role of Frontline Workers in Business Transformation

We need to remember these essential workers can make or break an organisations ability to operate efficiently, deliver exceptional products and services.

Women In Manufacturing- The History of Women in the Industry

In the coming months we will be speaking with women in the industry about the challenges, experiences and future of Women in Manufacturing.

Women In Manufacturing- An interview with Adèle Rodgers

In the coming months we will be speaking with women in the industry about the challenges, experiences and future of Women in Manufacturing.

What is ‘no code’?

When talking about connected worker platforms, “no code” refers to a type of software development approach or platform that enables users to automate processes without writing traditional programming code.

Has Industry 4.0 failed?

We are now able to look at whether Industry 4.0 has lived up to its transformative promise or faltered in the face of soaring expectations.

7 Tips for 0 Defects on Your Equipment.

Manufacturing equipment has a hard life, Tom Hughes talks about his experiences and tips on achieving zero defects on your manufacturing equipment.

The Perfect Shift

What’s a perfect shift? How does it relate to Manufacturing Excellence?

This series of articles shows how by digitising the daily management system throughout the shift, beginning with autonomous maintenance and the production worker.

Navigating Proposed Revisions to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD)

The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) represents a critical initiative within the European Union (EU) framework, designed to transform the way packaging waste is managed and promote a more sustainable, circular economy.

The critical role of CWPs in Digital Transformation

The primary goal of CWPs is to enhance productivity, safety, and efficiency by providing workers with the right information and tools at the right time. So how does this play a part in Digital Transformation?

9 principles and rules to sustain a connected worker platform on the shopfloor – by Marisa Alves

This latest article has been created by Marisa to provide first-person experiences in the implementation of connected worker technology to organisations and detail the key steps to making the implementation successful and sustainable.

International Women’s Day2023 #EmbraceEquity

With people starting from different places, coming from different backgrounds and experiencing different circumstances, true inclusion and belonging require equitable action.

Top 9 Ways to Avoid The People Crisis in Manufacturing

People are the strongest and weakest link in a $12 trillion global manufacturing industry.
Working with our Manufacturing Excellence expert, Tom Hughes, we’ve outlined the Top 9 Ways to Avoid the People Crisis In Manufacturing, including questions to assess your position against them.

6 Reasons to Invest in Frontline Workers in 2023

2023 is here, and manufacturers globally are looking for solutions and technology that can enhance and accelerate their business. Despite all the new technologies becoming readily available in the industry, one thing that cannot be disputed is the importance of the frontline worker. More importantly, the impact they can have when working with an environment that enables them to be more efficient and happier in their role.

Industrial Revolution vs Evolution – Is the change really that drastic?

Due to the changes that are being introduced, it’s easy to compare our current situation to that of the industrial revolutions we have seen in the past. Even now, many are considering themselves to be in the midst of the ‘Industrial Revolution 4.0’.

We at Zaptic believe that is much more applicable to dub this current era as an ‘Industrial Evolution’.

2022 Trends: Manufacturing your way through Gig Working

Successfully adapting to the changes we see day-today is critical for businesses to thrive. Not discluding workforce flexibility and what we can offer our people to best motivate, engage and empower them, whilst gaining clear business results. With Gig-worker agencies popping up all over the world, this idea is becoming increasingly popular with employers, gig-workers and also the existing employees for a number of reasons that we will delve into.

The Connected Organisation – Becoming truly connected

The most successful organisations are implementing technology platforms that connect and digitise all aspects of their operations – Digital Transformation being at the heart and the biggest enabler of the Connected Organisation.

6 Reasons to Invest in Connected Worker Technology

How can you raise worker satisfaction and get started on your company’s connected workforce journey? By investing in our workers and providing the tools they need to enable their work, a Connected Worker solution fully empowers and enables the front line.

What is Zaptic?

There is a lot of interest around how a connected worker platform can support other core IT/legacy systems and provide an enhanced experience for not only frontline workers using the software, but for manufacturing leaders on the receiving end of the heightened efficiency, savings, data and analysis that comes from it.

Augmented Reality in Manufacturing – Considering Where We Are Now

Today AR is finding new applications almost daily. We consider: what is Augmented Reality, where did it come from, how can it be impactful and what are the challenges?

Enabling a ‘Global-Local’ Approach in Manufacturing Operations

Global manufacturing businesses are often composed of relatively autonomous regional manufacturing units built from a mix of acquisitions and organic growth bringing a diverse mix of operational standards and IT infrastructure.

The Top Challenges Manufacturers Face in 2022

The last couple of years have been challenging in many ways, and in every aspect of our lives from home to work. Things have changed and we have now accepted that there is a ‘new normal’. But, was there ever a normal?

Millennials in Manufacturing: Attracting & Retaining Talent

Contrary to the concern that Smart Manufacturing will eliminate the need for humans, it in fact creates more opportunities, empowerment and autonomy for people in manufacturing. With younger, digitally native generations pouring into manufacturing, how do we ensure that we are ready to attract and retain this talent?

Women In Tech Are A Minority

Only 19% of the UK tech workforce are women, with even lower figures for black and Hispanic women at just 3% and Asian women just 5% [1].

The Rise of Digital Natives in Manufacturing

Despite having endless information at our fingertips through smartphones and tablets in our personal lives, the same technology has yet to be implemented into the manufacturing landscape even though the benefits have been proven across other industries such as hospitality, retail and transportations. And with Digital Natives beginning to enter the workforce, it has never

Why Start a Connected Worker Journey?

According to a recent study by Deloitte, 49% of manufacturing workers waste on average 10 mins per hour due to equipment malfunctions or admin and paper-focused tasks. This means in every team of 6 people 1 entire person is consumed in the admin and paper instead of other productive work. How would your organization benefit

The Future of the Connected Worker – Unlocking & Unleashing Your Frontline Workers’ Time and Creativity

After 35 years of running factories and implementing Lean, TPM and the P&G way called IWS, I always struggled with the amount of paper, checklists, verifications, health checks, data, boards, and admin our people and team leaders had to manage, I always thought I was meant to be empowering the people not weighing them down.

Manufacturing’s Digital Transformation Post Pandemic

In 2020, a year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, many organisations witnessed the overhaul of normal operations – transitioning to remote work wherever possible, implementing even stricter safe workplace measures and limiting human-to-human interaction.

What are the benefits of a Digital Daily Management System

In this article, we look at what a Daily Management System (DMS) is and why it is important to have it in place, as well as the benefits of moving away from paper, sticky notes and whiteboards and towards a Digital DMS.

Maintaining safe, productive plant operations during the pandemic – lessons from a US wine manufacturer

Wine, Changeovers and Social Distancing

How one US wine producer is maintaining business continuity during a pandemic

How successful Industry 4.0 leaders think like startups

  The terms crossing the chasm, network effects, pilot purgatory etc. are all regular parlance in the startup and VC worlds. So familiar, or overused even to the point of being cringeworthy. Despite this, they have undoubtedly helped many start-up founders conceptualise and execute their go-to-market strategies and build scalable businesses.

3 building blocks to facilitate empowerment in the digital age

Many thanks to our special contributor, Sergey Afanasyev, for sharing his thoughts on Leadership and Empowerment in the digital age.    In March 2011 I came across the word “empowerment” for the first time. As a newly introduced lean manager to a manufacturing site, I carefully reviewed an assessment questionnaire for an operational excellence program.

How to improve in-store merchandising in 3 tech-enabled steps 

Despite predictions of a “Retail Armageddon” with brick and mortar retailers facing rising e-commerce competition and increasing financial pressures, 94% of all retail sales in the U.S. still take place in physical stores.

The Pros and Cons of Centralising Merchandising Execution and Compliance

Walmart recently announced that it had selected five merchandising service providers (Anderson Merchandisers, Acosta, Crossmark, Premium and SAS Retail Services) to conduct all in-store merchandising for all suppliers [1].

How to improve retail execution with gamification

Numerous studies have examined the reasons that motivate people to play games – including high sense of achievement, instant gratification, competition, break from tedious tasks.

The importance of continuous reinvention in brick and mortar retail

Toys R Us has announced that it will close all its stores in the US and the UK, putting 30,000 jobs at risk [1]. Earlier this week, Claire’s Accessories was reported to be preparing for bankruptcy [2]. In the end of February, Maplin, one of the UK’s biggest electronics retailers with more than 200 stores

How to Upskill Your Frontline Workforce with Guided Task Execution

“There’s an app for that”, said no Operations Director ever. Until now. In this video, you’ll learn how retail, services and manufacturing companies are using Zaptic to simplify task execution in-store and along supply chains, driving productivity and compliance in their frontline operations.

How Are Tech-Enabled Audits Improving Operational Visibility?

The advancement of automation and mobile technology is disrupting how operational audits are performed. 

How Digital Workers Create Happy Customers with Digital Operational Excellence

The proliferation of productivity and collaboration tools in the workplace reflects the business value in digitalising routine processes, allowing workers to focus on value-adding actions.

How Can Gamification Improve Store Operations?

Gamification is the application of typical elements of gameplay such as rules of play, point scoring, milestones and competition to professional activity, aimed to encourage employee engagement.

How to Reduce Inventory Shrinkage in 4 Simple Steps

In 2016, inventory shrinkage cost US retailers $49 billion with 47% of retailers surveyed reporting annual increase in overall inventory shrinkage [1].

From Retail Audits to Predictive Store Execution!

In our recent article, we discussed how technology is changing the way operational auditing is conducted, transforming the concept from post-hoc reporting to a real-time, continuous and predictive capability.

5 Productivity Quotes and How to Put Them Into Practice In-store

Rising e-tail competition and economic pressure has led many retailers to remove operating cost with a leaner and more flexible workforce. The challenge for retailers is to maintain and improve in-store standards with a leaner workforce on the shop floor.

How to do more with less in-store? (3 Steps to Smarter Store Operations)

Despite predictions of its demise relative to e- and m-commerce, the physical store remains the most important consumer touch point. 

Merchandising Tips to Help Physical Stores Shine this Christmas

According to a survey conducted by Deloitte, this year’s holiday shoppers will spend an estimated $228 more per household than last year [1]. To make the most of the holiday season, brick and mortar retailers need to respond to e-commerce competition and growing customer expectations of a seamless, digital-like in-store experience.

In-store merchandising decisions so bad they are actually good

In-store merchandising is an essential aspect of store operations with non-compliance and poor execution resulting in lost sales and customer dissatisfaction.

Join the Revolution with Smart Checklists in the Connected Enterprise!

Whether you prefer the term ‘industrial internet of things’, or industry 4.0, either way the rise of connected enterprises is changing the way all types of business operations can be monitored.

The Hectic Day of a Store Associate as Illustrated by Our Favourite Cat Gifs

With retailers increasingly relying on leaner, more flexible workforces, store associates are expected to be even more productive, doing more and more diverse tasks in less time.

What does the future of work look like for store associates?

Cornerstone Capital Group’s latest report predicts that nearly 7 million retail jobs are likely to be automated out of existence in the coming years, leaving a large portion of the retail workforce at risk of becoming ‘stranded workers’ [1].

How to Build an Exponential Sales and Customer Engagement Organisation? (Part I)

Airbnb and Uber are obvious examples of Exponential Organisations, disrupting the hotel and taxi industries, succeeding without owning a single room/car. However, ExponentialOrganisations are not limited to Silicon Valley tech start-ups.

How Can Area Managers Do More with Less?

Area managers have many and diverse responsibilities – from maximising sales and profitability, through maintaining and increasing customer service standards and health and safety compliance, to controlling staff training and development. So much to do and only so much time!

How you are miscalculating your on shelf availability score and what to do about it?

On the surface, it might seem like calculating OSA scores is simplistic. However, complexity arises when attempting to calculate OSA scores across different regions, stores and time periods.

Retail Activity Optimisation Beyond EPOS Data Sources

The Promotion Optimisation Institute and Gartner similarly introduce Retail Activity Optimisation (RAO) as the leveraging of EPOS data to help field sales forces identify which stores represent the highest turnover opportunities and what the required actions in-store are.

Omni-channel Retail Execution and Monitoring in Megacities

Today there are 35 megacities worldwide, cities with more than 10 million inhabitants. Rapid urbanisation has presented consumer goods companies (CPGs) with great opportunities and challenges.

Demystifying the Excess Tools in Retail Execution and Monitoring

Technology has had a wide-reaching impact on retail. E- and m-commerce have become central aspects of a digital customer experience.

4 Lessons from Navy SEALs for Field Sales

Today, we want to explore how good leadership, supported by the latest technology, can empower the frontline workforce to reach optimal productivity, effectiveness and efficiency.