Key points
With industry picking itself up after a tumultuous year, manufacturing spaces are being scrutinised like never before. As revealed by a recent McKinsey report, hygiene is one of the flagship manufacturing concerns in the wake of re-openings, with a need for long-term higher standards of cleanliness in factories and warehouses.
According to the report, keeping workers safe should be a top priority for managers looking to survive the effects of the pandemic. The authors stress very clearly that what’s needed includes, “enhanced health surveillance, restrictions on the use of communal tools and areas and regular sanitisation of equipment along with periodic deep cleans of whole workplaces.”
As factory spaces reorganise their workforces, and with the pandemic set to become a residual issue, having the ability to verify cleaning performance is becoming increasingly important.
The State of the Industry
With employees taking on more tasks than ever before, alongside unprecedented safety concerns and stunted business revenues, greater workplace efficiency is desperately needed.
The deployment of autonomous cleaning robots effectively gives valuable time back to teams so they can focus on tasks only humans can carry out, such as sanitising high-contact surfaces, managing traffic flow and manning production lines.
Robotic floor care solutions can perform the same task multiple times a day, ensuring consistency and data-backed records of operations. These robots can be used as helpful tools, at the same time requiring human support on the front and back ends of the process.
COVID-19 has created many obstacles for factory managers and employers, such as higher staff turnover, evolving safety regulations, and diminished profits forecasts.
Managers must consider and evolve their operations in real time, while ensuring workplace safety for those on the shop floor — the chief concern at the moment. In recent months, workers have voiced real fears about returning to factories.
Process industry companies, food processing in particular, have been no exception to this. In light of these anxieties, ensuring greater levels of cleanliness and hygiene are obvious components of a robust solution.
Staying Ahead in the Game
Pandemic conditions have hastened the onset of automation. While the presence of robotics in manufacturing grew in the years leading up to 2020, the need to contain the virus has made this year a watershed moment for robotic automation.
Specifically, autonomous cleaning robots (AMRs) are coming to the front line. Sales have skyrocketed, with 73% of supply chain managers stating that robotics will be important in the future. With hygiene as a top priority, cleaning robots have been introduced to achieve an enhanced and verifiable level of clean to encourage workers back into factories once lockdowns ease.
Autonomous units offer workplace hygiene and efficiency gains to those working in manufacturing spaces. They can be easily programmed to navigate factory floors, and do not need rest or sick days. AMRs can also handle dynamic environments.
With cleaning programs running in the background, staff can focus on other more specialised tasks. Through the first three quarters of the year, cleaning robots have freed up approximately 2.4 million hours of productivity for workers in retail, grocery, commercial offices, malls, and other high-traffic public locations. This is up from 331,000 hours during the same period last year according to Brain Corp data.
Furthermore, digital reporting allows robots to give accurate and reliable assessments of cleanliness. Robots collect data that provide detailed assessments of cleaning programs. This type of reporting ensures that cleaning activities are measured with pin-point accuracy and factory owners can have greater confidence when faced with an invisible viral threat.
Clean as a New Brand Value
It is not enough for manufacturing spaces to be clean, they also must be recognised as being clean. COVID-19 will be present well into next year, and a survey of UK industry has found that most managers believe it will take more than 12 months to restore anything close to normal conditions. What’s needed, in light of this reality, are processes and solutions that can ensure long-term protection.
Brain Corp, currently powering the world’s largest fleet of over 14,000 cleaning robots, has seen increased usage across all sectors. In the first three quarters of 2020, median usage of robotic scrubbers at U.S. retail locations is up 14.5% compared to the prior year.
Roughly a quarter (24.6%) of the usage so far this year has come from operation during daytime hours, compared to only 10.5% last year, according to Brain Corp data. These figures demonstrate a tendency toward verifiable all-day cleaning.
Modern cleaning technology — AMRs in particular — can generate an atmosphere of security in the fallout from the pandemic. A verifiable standard of clean instils psychological reassurance into an anxious workforce. Moreover, companies will increasingly stand to benefit by having a brand image associated with high standards of cleanliness.
Successful manufacturers will implement technological solutions to ensure that team members remain reliably safe and secure in the knowledge that hygiene concerns are being managed effectively. As industrial spaces grow in a post-pandemic environment, those that build data-driven clean into their operations will better realise long-term sustainability.
