Top 10 tips for manufacturing

Want to get more out of Google apps at work or school?  Sign up for a free Google Workspace trial

1

Bring new products to market faster with increased supplier collaboration and management Collaborate and share product designs, computer-aided design (CAD) files, research data, test data, quality guidelines, key performance indicators (KPIs), and mock-ups in a secure workspace using Drive or shared drives, where you’ll always access the most up-to-date versions. Manage activities with a shared task list in Sheets or a shared team Calendar. Crowd-source feedback on product designs and materials from employees in Currents. Hold live video meetings with your suppliers in Google Meet to improve communications and reduce cycle time. With everyone on the same page, it’s now easier to bring new product ideas and strategies to life. Customer story​ Whirlpool Learn how Calendar Drive Shared drives Currents Google Meet Sheets

2

Facilitate deskless mobile workers throughout the plants and company Provide team members with the tools they need to go deskless or mobile effectively. Whether on the plant floor or in the field, team members can use their phones, tablets, or Chromebooks to access product specifications, CAD files, work instructions, training videos, manuals, quality-control checklists, regulatory documents, reports, and best practices stored in Drive and shared drives. Customer story Leon Speakers Learn how  Drive Shared drives

3

Streamline and simplify complex selling Sales teams spend a lot of time on the road to meet with dealers and partners. Access current pricing databases, quotes, product configuration models, promotions, and other information from anywhere in the world by syncing them to Drive on your mobile devices. Supplement Drive with Cloud Save APIs to manage complex product configurations, rules, and constraint-based models. Unable to travel? Have virtual meetings over Google Meet to save money and time on travel, but still get all the benefits of face-to-face contact. Then, track your key meetings, sales timelines, and product updates with Calendar so you don’t miss any deadlines. Customer story Katz Americas Learn how  Calendar Drive Google Meet

4

Train your plant workers anytime, anywhere Training workers across many locations, shifts, and products? It’s easy to create a self-service training portal. Just store all your product launch videos, marketing campaigns, promotions, plant return policies, and safety procedures in Drive, then embed these stored files in Sites. If you need live training, conduct a virtual class across the globe with Google Meet to save time and travel costs. You can even record the training to make it available later. Customer story Roche Group Learn how Drive Shared drives Sites Google Meet

5

Empower corporate and plant employees with social Centers of Excellence Use Currents social communities within your organization to help employees learn from one another, share ideas to increase sales, generate best practices, provide feedback on new products, and create a sense of community. Customer story Sanmina Learn how Currents

6

Manage plant operation processes online Streamline your plant processes by moving all your operations and processes online. With Forms, you can create electronic forms for product recalls, time off requests, supply orders, acknowledgements of company policies, and more—in just minutes. These forms are easy to update and can be accessed from kiosks, computers, or mobile devices. For each piece of equipment, production line schedule, or task, create Sites pages and shared drives with photos, assembly instructions, how-to videos, and other file types. Plant floor workers can then read instructions on shared workstations and minimize assembly errors. Customer story​ Shaw Industries Learn how  Drive Shared drives Forms Sites

7

Manage tasks and schedules for all employees online Tracking tasks and schedules across multiple sites, multiple geographies, and hundreds of employees can be time consuming. Use Sites, Sheets, and Calendar together to create a dynamic schedule—plan and distribute tasks, track completion, manage exceptions, and more—all in one place. Team members can access these schedules remotely from their mobile devices or through any web browser. Need feedback or updates on a task? Employees can directly add comments and change their statuses in Sheets. Customer story​ Adhunik Pratt Industries Learn how  Calendar Sheets Sites

8

Recruit, interview, and onboard workers quickly, whether they’re full-time, seasonal, or part-time Manufacturers experience a high employee turnover, so shortening the recruiting and onboarding process improves the bottom line. After interested candidates submit their information through Forms, you can conduct interviews with your top choices from anywhere in the world with Google Meet. Then, streamline the onboarding process with a Sites website containing new employee checklists and tasks. Customer story​ Holcim Nobel Biocare Learn how  Forms Google Meet Sites

9

Centralize key assets so employees can find all important updates and documents in one place Keep all internal news, executive blog posts, project schedules, product documents, online forms, training content, and more in a single Sites website. Now your organization has a one-stop destination for all important information, which any employee (or just a select group) can access anytime, from any device. Customer story​ POSCO Learn how  Sites

10

Securely create and manage digital work instructions for the entire plant or company Need input on work instructions from various teams, but want to avoid version control and edit locking issues? Collaborate in Docs, Sheets, and Slides by creating content simultaneously, viewing edits in real-time, and providing feedback with the Comment feature. When your instructions are done, Drive's sharing features and access controls make working with external agencies and vendors simple and secure. Every time you make updates or edits, Drive syncs your changes to the cloud so everyone’s always accessing the most up-to-date content. Customer story Briggs and Stratton Learn how Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides Shared drives