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When the average person tucks into their favourite meal or takes a sip of their favourite drink, they may not instantly think about how their product has been produced or packaged.  

Unless they’re a big fan of Inside the Factory, of course – you know, the one presented by MasterChef veteran, Greg Wallace. 

And in that case, we salute their curiosity for wanting to know how everything from cheese to chicken kievs is getting from production floor to plate. 

For food and drink manufacturers, the production floor is the bread and butter of the operation. But it’s not always plain sailing when it comes to worker productivity, safety, and efficiency. 

As a trusted adviser to a range of food manufacturers across the UK, we’ve put together a list of some of the most common pain points they face on a daily basis. 

Productivity

PAIN POINT – Having an ineffective workflow system

An effective workflow system is paramount for production floor managers. It is a vital ingredient when it comes to creating a thriving environment. 

But it’s not easy thing to get right. Especially when the conveyer belt of food and drink products has to keep moving – with minimal disruption. 

SOLUTION – Use job ticketing software to streamline and automate workflow tasks

To remove any headaches of workers not carrying out tasks at the right time, or recording them properly, you need to implement a workflow system that will streamline and automate tasks. 

With Job Ticketing, tasks can be created, assigned and tracked via a centralised system or radio network. Real-time updates will be sent to staff member’s radio device, and they can keep on top of when to start and finish a task. 

Once they accept a job and complete it, the data will be captured and ready for analysis. 

PAIN POINT – Minimising machine downtime

Machine downtime is one of the biggest bug bears food and beverage manufacturers face. In fact, research in the past has suggested that machine downtime costs the industry £180 billion a year. 

That’s an expensive headache to overcome, and one that requires a solution in place that can’t be bought over the counter. 

SOLUTION – Use Extended Alarm Management 

To minimise the impact of machine downtime, you should use Extended Alarm Management – which is an alarm systems where critical machinery can be synced to a two-way radio. 

Once the machine and the radio are synced together, radio users can receive alerts that there’s a problem.

PAIN POINT – Noisy environment making it hard to hear each other

You may be familiar with the song, Food, Glorious Food, but the tune that plays to that classic isn’t quite the same as the one that belts out on the production floor. 

Heavy machinery, a conveyer belt of products, and the sound of people working combine to create a noisy environment. 

SOLUTION – Use radios with the Intelligent Audio feature

To combat background noise, businesses can take advantage of radio devices that have an Intelligent Audio feature. Put simply, Intelligent Audio will automatically increase or decrease the volume of the radio, depending on the background. 

PAIN POINT – Ensuring staff are in the right place

People are the powerhouse behind any good operation. Without them, the supply chain – that relies on readily available products – suffers. 

But managing them effectively and knowing they’re in the right place at the right time, is never straightforward. 

SOLUTION –   Use indoor and outdoor location positioning

There is something that can make it less of a burden, though. And that ‘thing’ is indoor and outdoor location positioning. With the use of GPS and Bluetooth beacons, you can ensure your team are always where they should be. 

Safety

PAIN POINT – Protecting lone workers during their shift

Lone working is super common in the UK. And the theme continues in food manufacturing. Working in isolated environments comes with a higher risk of accident and injury, especially when surrounded by heavy machinery and potentially explosive equipment. 

SOLUTION – Use Lone Worker

To help keep your lone workers as safe as possible, you can use the Lone Worker feature on a range of digital two-way radios. This feature will send regular alerts to a user’s radio and will be tracked when the lone worker presses a button to confirm that they are okay. 

This is a great way to ensure the welfare and safety of lone workers is being checked on a regular basis. 

PAIN POINT – Reporting incidents and accidents accurately

Incident and accidents can’t always be avoided in a busy working environment. But if you’re not 100 percent sure what happened, then you can’t move forward and reduce the amount of incidents that take place. 

SOLUTION – Voice recording and audit reports

You can monitor and report incidents more accurately with Voice Recording. This is a feature where radio-to-radio conversation are recorded. 

You then use the recording to playback the conversation via an MP3 file. This will then allow your health and safety function to run training initiatives based on real-life incidents on site. 

PAIN POINT – Reacting to worker injuries quickly

With so much going at once, it can be easy take your eye off the ball. Especially in respect to staff whereabouts. 

If something serious happens, you need to make sure you have the right data intelligence to react quickly. 

SOLUTION – Use Man Down

And react quickly you can. With a solution known as Man Down. 

This is a feature that is built into digital two-way radios. In a nutshell it works out when a radio is at abnormal angle. 

Once the radio is at an unusual angle, a prompt will be sent to the radio user. If the radio user is unresponsive, then it may well mean that something isn’t right – and you can react to it straight away. 

PAIN POINT – Struggling with communication coverage

If your staff struggle to communicate, because you have signal problems across your operation, then it can put their safety in jeopardy. 

SOLUTION – Choose the right seamless network infrastructure

We will help you overcome your coverage issues by creating a seamless network infrastructure that suits your surroundings and your needs. 

Visit our infrastructure page to see all of the solutions we offer for your business. 

Efficiency

PAIN POINT – Getting important updates out to staff

Sometimes your workforce needs to know what to do an instant, and not have to stop and take a phone call before carrying on with their day. But when mobile phones are accessible, what do they do?

SOLUTION – Use text messaging

Not everyone will know this, but digital two-way radios with screens and keypads give you the ability to send and receive text messages. 

You can also send out pre-defined messages, where you can relay important site updates to a group of radio users at once. Very handy when you need split second thinking or everyone to know something at once. 

PAIN POINT – Production workers and off-site workers communicating effectively

Every business in food manufacturing has connections to a supply chain that can stretch from one side of the world to the other. 

But if communication between production floor staff and head office staff can’t be consistent, then neither can the success of the supply chain. 

SOLUTION – Use Telephone Interconnect

When people think of two-way radios (or walkie talkies) they probably picture a scenario where a radio can only talk to another radio. 

But over the years technology has advanced, and in this day and age radios can talk to mobile phones and landline devices. This is made possible by a piece of software known as Telephone Interconnect. 

PAIN POINT – Our workers struggle to communicate and carry tasks out at the same time

Productivity is pivotal in the food and drink production business. But if workers find themselves in a situation where they’re having to stop working in order to pick up their radio, then productivity will suffer. 

SOLUTION – Use VOX (Voice Activated Communications)

Many digital two-way radios have a feature known as VOX (Voice Activated Communications) where a user can simply use their voice to broadcast a message, without the need to touch a push-to-talk (PTT) button.

PAIN POINT – Getting the most out of our two-way communication system

Whenever you buy communication devices, the hope is that they will work straight out of the box, regardless of your building structure(s) and environment. 

It’s never as straightforward as this, as there’s several layers of complexity to consider before deciding you can use devices or a system with no external help. 

SOLUTION – Choose expert engineering services with Eemits

We’ve been advising and supporting businesses (for over 36 years) on the right communication solution for their needs. 

This includes services such as over-the-air programming, preventive maintenance, and reactive maintenance. We leave no stone unturned when it comes to designing and implementing digital two-way radio systems.