While the full impact of COVID-19 is still unknown, many factories are already experiencing decreases in workforce capacity and resources, notes Dominik Wee, Managing Director, Manufacturing and Transportation, Google Cloud.
In this exclusive interview, he outlines how his company is enabling supply chain managers in various industry sectors.
Supply Chain Management Review: Did Google anticipate the massive move to remote workplaces before COVID-19?
Dominik Wee: No one could have predicted the sheer impact that COVID-19 would have on economies, industries, and workforces. Google Cloud has been well-positioned to support remote work at scale, though, through our collaboration and productivity apps, namely G Suite. Some of our customers were already ahead of this trend. For example, Koenig & Bauer, the world’s oldest printing press manufacturer, began migrating to G Suite earlier this year. That timely switch enabled its workplaces to stay connected and boost collaboration, irrespective of time zone.
SCMR: Will remote working remain a trend for the long-term?
Wee: We have many new customers that were initially skeptical of remote work models before COVID-19 and are now taking advantage of our collaboration tools. A lot of feedback is that they are surprised by how well these models work, and they plan on leveraging them in the longer term.
SCMR: What does that include?
Wee: That includes encouraging employees to embrace new technologies and implement new solutions—all to make their environment more productive and collaborative. Energy solutions provider Viessmann used Google Sheets as the primary IT dashboard to monitor its IT infrastructure KPIs. The company also converted its employees to remote work within a 48-hour span and now, its workforce conducts roughly 60,000 Google Meet conferences each month.
SCMR: What challenges do you expect from remote working in the future?
Wee: Manufacturers must ensure that employees who are in various time zones can easily and quickly access critical files and participate in virtual team meetings. That includes joining securely from their personal devices, often in an ad hoc manner. Teams must be able to effectively communicate — whether that’s through a live stream for up to 100,000 employees, supporting an interactive meeting for up to 250 people or facilitating urgent communications with a handful of stakeholders.
SCMR: Any final thoughts?
Wee: The other remote challenge is keeping operations running when there is reduced worker capacity and increased worker safety requirements. Managers now have to consider the distance between workers and voluntary reporting of potential illness. At Google Cloud, we’re developing easy-to-use solutions based on interoperability, analytics and machine vision that help our customers remotely monitor and manage their operational technology. These solutions can also mitigate the risk of health-related absenteeism, ensure worker safety and reduce the amount of manual labor needs in operations. Manufacturing and logistics companies can further leverage these AI-infused tools to enhance worker capabilities and drive greater optimization both now and in the future.
About the Author
Patrick Burnson, Executive Editor
Patrick Burnson is executive editor for Logistics Management and Supply Chain Management Review magazines and web sites. Patrick is a widely-published writer and editor who has spent most of his career covering international trade, global logistics, and supply chain management. He lives and works in San Francisco, providing readers with a Pacific Rim perspective on industry trends and forecasts. You can reach him directly at [email protected]
