Imagine a manufacturing floor where information flows seamlessly, teams collaborate effortlessly, and everyone is on the same page. This is the power of effective communication. Below, explore 12 key best practices to enhance communication in manufacturing, leading to increased productivity, improved safety, and a more engaged workforce.
How Important is Clear Communication?
Communication breakdowns can lead to costly errors, decreased productivity, and even safety hazards. By establishing clear communication channels, you’ll help your team become more cohesive and improve engagement, along with reducing the risk of injuries on the job and improving their production efficiency.
Some proven ways to boost communication effectively include thoroughly training your new employees, meeting regularly as a team, and ensuring your managers have the necessary tools to succeed.
Best Practices for Clearer Communication in Manufacturing
Clear communication is the best way to ensure that each member of your manufacturing team is working toward a shared goal. But how can you make sure your team understands the importance of communication? By putting each of the best practices into place!
Below are 12 best practices for improving team communication in manufacturing environments.
1. Remain in Contact with Floor Workers
On the manufacturing floor, frontline workers are often the first to spot issues with equipment or processes. If communication is lacking, small issues can turn into bigger problems fast. That’s why it’s essential to create an environment where your team feels comfortable speaking up right away. There are several techniques that can improve your communication with floor workers, including:
- Conducting feedback surveys
- Running open-floor meetings
- Putting a bonus or contest in place to incentivize speaking up
Your floor team plays a critical role in the success of your operation. Making consistent, direct communication with them a priority can eliminate misunderstandings and help you stay ahead of potential issues.
2. Improve Your Communication in Manufacturing Technology
Many companies rely on their workers’ cellphones to find out about emergency situations. There are a lot of things that can go wrong with this. For instance, what happens if an employee can’t reach out because they don’t have a signal?
By relying on your workers to contact you during an emergency via their personal cell phones, you’re also betting that they’ll always have it in their pocket and remember to charge it.
Instead, it may make more sense to invest in a two-way radio system for your company. With a 24+ hour battery, nationwide range, and industry leading safety features, two-way radios make staying in touch easy!
3. Train New Workers More Effectively
The effectiveness of your training programs is reflected in how well your team performs day-to-day tasks. Rather than trying to accommodate a longer training process, you can help reduce turnover by giving each new employee a training buddy. By allowing new employees to partner with a buddy, you’ll help reduce any gaps in their training. Also, their buddy can immediately show them the correct way to do things if they make a mistake.
4. Always Have Time for Feedback
If you run a big manufacturing plant, then you’ve probably got three shifts’ worth of employees. Trying to keep everything moving along properly typically takes priority, which means your employees aren’t likely to get timely feedback. Conversely, they’re often not given the time to provide feedback either.
Rather than allow this to keep happening, it’s important to designate some time toward giving and receiving feedback. Perhaps you can put aside 15 minutes per day to meet with interested employees. Depending on the size of your manufacturing plant, you may need to hold multiple sessions to ensure you’re able to hear and provide feedback to everyone across shifts.
5. Provide Digital Recognition in Front of Others
In the past, manufacturing plants relied on bulletin boards to post recognition of their employees. However, in the digital age, it makes much more sense to embrace digital recognition channels. These have become one of the best ways to improve employee engagement, morale, retention, and productivity.
It’s important to make sure each employee can see their digital recognition. Consider places where everyone can see the recognition, such as on a TV display in the break room. That way, everyone can easily check for the latest recognitions.
6. Use Each Employee’s Chosen Language
The U.S. is a melting pot, reflected in the wide range of languages spoken across the country. In fact, Spanish is spoken at home by just under 14% of the U.S. population. Rather than expecting your entire team to speak the same language, you can turn to a two-way radio that offers live translations of 30+ languages, even during emergencies.
Can you imagine what it would be like to be working on the manufacturing floor during an emergency evacuation and not understand instructions because they are only said in another language?
Fortunately, modern solutions are reducing these issues with AI-powered language translation built into the tools teams are already relying on to communicate.
7. Provide Real-Time Updates to Everyone
Many companies unintentionally leave their floor workers out of the loop when it comes to communication. While updates might be sent via email or newsletters, how realistic is it to expect floor workers to pause during a shift to check their inbox? Plus, there’s no reliable way to know who’s actually seen the message.
Instead, use a two-way radio to deliver any important updates in real time. Not only does this ensure better communication practices but it also keeps your workers better equipped to handle their jobs.
8. Health and Safety Updates Must be Prioritized
Safety and health have always been high priorities for the manufacturing industry. However, since the advent of COVID-19, it has become more important than ever. Although the pandemic may be over, all the lessons it brought with it are still vitally important. For instance, if you have any health or safety concerns at your plant, make sure you deliver them to your employees right away.
9. Tell Employees How Valuable They Are
Every section of the manufacturing floor is powered by highly valuable employees—but do they know just how important they are? Frontline workers often struggle to see the bigger picture and understand how their daily efforts contribute to the company’s success.
Take the time to clearly communicate their individual impact. When employees understand their role and how their work drives results, it boosts morale, enhances productivity, and fosters a greater sense of purpose across the entire team.
10. Discuss the Future of the Industry
The year 2030 is coming up fast, so it’s wise to discuss the future of the industry with all your employees. Such as the increasing reliance on AI, evolving manufacturing technology, and the prediction that 8.5% of the global workforce will be replaced by robots by 2030.
Keeping your employees informed about these changes helps them feel prepared, included, and more confident navigating what’s ahead.
11. Ensure Everyone Feels Included
It can be difficult for a team to stay together when your floor workers don’t have easy access to tools, resources, and company news. However, by putting a reliable communication system in place, you can pull these manufacturing workers into the fold. Rather than feeling isolated and like the company doesn’t care, your workers will have a renewed sense of purpose. As an added bonus, constant communication opportunities will make everyone feel more like a workplace family.
12. Include Everyone in Your Two-Way Radio Plans
Traditionally speaking, many manufacturing plants cut their floor workers out of the two-way communication decision process. This often leads to an extra layer of resistance to the change. Instead, give everyone the chance to test out the new devices, explain the benefits the new devices will have for the team, and give everyone the chance to provide feedback.
Embrace Two-Way Communication in Manufacturing
Embracing two-way communication in manufacturing has the power to completely revolutionize the way you run your plant. You’ll be able to remain in constant contact with your workers by using a simple, two-way radio that doesn’t rely on email or texting to get your message across.
If you’re ready to take your manufacturing team’s communication skills to the next level, consider starting with a reliable tool, built for tough environments. Better than outdated two-way radios or cell phones, Relay devices make it easy to communicate as a group or privately at the touch of a button! Learn more about how Relay works in our on-demand video demo center.
