Engage your employees, keep production on track, and make sure everyone stays safe. These are just a few of the benefits factory signage offers. Wind back the clock a few hundred years and manufacturers relied on giant clocks and loud supervisors to keep workers on track. Thankfully, these days, digital signage can do a much better job.
A manufacturing sign uses technology to provide clear, easily updated, and visually appealing messages on-screen. Factories around the world are increasingly turning to digital solutions to upgrade their existing signage—and for a good reason.
In this article, we’ll show you why and introduce how digital signage works with Yodeck . Read on to learn about your obligations and discover what more you can do with your sign in the factory.
Why should I have factory signage?
One of the most important reasons to have factory signage is to keep employees safe and comply with regulations for running your manufacturing facility.
In most cases, using factory safety signage is a legal requirement. Employers must display signs if there’s no other way to avoid or control a significant risk on the factory floor. What’s more, the number and nature of those signs matter too.
Signs need to be clear and easy to understand. For example, they should give clear, unambiguous instructions, and often they’ll need to comply with certain colour schemes.
For example, there are five different styles of safety signs manufacturers need to install in the UK. In the US and other parts of the world, regulations differ, so it’s worthwhile checking the rules for your location.
- Prohibitory signs. These have a simple black and white picture overlaid by a red circle with a diagonal line running through it. As the name suggests, these signs give specific prohibitory instructions, such as “No access.”
- Warning sign. Always triangular and with black pictograms on a yellow background. They’re designed to alert people to possible risks like trips and falling objects.
- Mandatory signage. These round “must do” signs let workers know they should be wearing protective gear or taking particular preventative measures to avoid harm. The images are white and the background is blue.
- Safety signs. Denoting safe conditions and areas, these square signs have white images on green backgrounds and are used to identify things like fire exits and first aid equipment.
- Fire safety signs. Noting locations of fire-fighting equipment, these signs must be rectangular or square. They have a white picture on a red background.
3 more ways digital factory signs can work for your business
Obligatory factory signs aren’t the only signs needed to keep workers aware of their responsibilities and duties while on the job. From aisle signage in your warehouse to production display boards , digital signage for factories will keep your teams on track.
1)Factory floor KPI and efficiency displays
Factory floor displays keep employees up to the minute with real-time information. Whether it’s real-time feeds on production quotas or custom reports on a department’s efficiency, automated manufacturing KPI dashboards on the factory floor can become a quick reference for understanding what needs to be done in specific situations.
Linking production monitoring software to your digital display gives everyone visibility on real-time information on the shop floor. Similarly, malfunctioning machines or systems can be quickly identified and shared with digital signs that include safety procedures alongside warnings.
2) Digital wayfinding signage
Factories can be large, noisy places that aren’t always easy to navigate. Make it easier for employees, visitors, and suppliers to find their way on the factory floor with digital signage.
Digital wayfinding signage boasts bright colors, bold graphics, and illuminated screens to make it easy to spot where you are and where you need to get to.
Even in places we’re familiar with, there are times we need a little guidance to find things. Warehouse aisle signage that is bright, easy to read, and simple to update helps employees find what they need quickly and efficiently. It improves productivity by saving your workers time.
3)Improve business presentations and display offers
Factory signs can be used to inform visitors, customers, and suppliers about anything they need while they’re on site.
That could be pertinent information related to accessing your premises. Alternatively, it can serve a commercial purpose too. For example, use your digital screens to display offers that may be relevant to them. This can result in better after-sales engagement and more interest in special offers for those visiting your factory outlets.
For instance, Midas’s use of Yodeck’s digital signs in their customer-facing locations can easily be imitated in a factory setting. Let’s take a look at how they did their digital signage work for them.
Case study: How Midas added value for customers with digital signage
Midas France has 119 car maintenance centers across France. They approached Yodeck seeking a simple but engaging way to communicate with customers.
After a product demo, Midas incorporated digital signage into their centers to enhance their customer experience with service updates, promotional content, and information such as traffic updates, weather, and news.
By implementing Yodeck’s playlist feature, a carousel of relevant information could be shared across all of the service centers. Media files and free apps combined to create an engaging feed of content for customers.
Plug-and-play features meant the displays were set up quickly and content could be managed from a central location, leaving site employees free to take care of car maintenance and customers.
Sales for add-on services and an uptick in customer engagement have benefited all 119 centers with the screens.
“Yodeck is very simple to deploy, because of the ease of connection, the ease of implementation, and, above all, because everything is automatic. What I like best about Yodeck is the implementation of videos, and, especially, the implementation of videos in playlists: it’s disconcertingly easy and flawlessly efficient.”
ALEXANDRE DIMITROV, Digital display manager
Why upgrade to digital signs in your factory?
Digital signs look sleek and professional and provide a range of advantages. Let’s explore some of these in detail.
1. Improve your productivity
Digital signage can help increase productivity in a few different ways.
Firstly, it helps streamline communication between employees and management. Instead of having to manually update physical signs, manufacturing information displays let you update information from a single point and make it visible wherever it’s needed.
Staff updates, changes to procedures, and reminders of KPIs can easily be disseminated throughout your operation. This keeps employees focused on business targets and reduces the need to interrupt your employee’s workflow to inform them of any changes.
Secondly, digital signs are much easier to read than traditional signs or a metal sign. This means they’re ideal for factories with difficult lighting conditions or long distances between departments. What’s more, they allow you to complement written instructions with images, to make them much more memorable.
Finally, digital signs can give employees access to additional information when they need it. You can display training materials, workplace reminders, publicly recognize high-performing teams, and more.
2. Reduce your operating costs
Upgrading your manufacturing safety signs with digital screens can save you money.
While traditional paper posters need to be physically replaced when out of date, with a digital screen, all you have to do is create new content and hit publish. What’s more, your digital led sign will last much longer than paper posters, and the ever-changing content means messages never become stale or overlooked.
Yodeck’s range of subscription plans has been designed to suit all business sizes, making digital signage an affordable option.
Subscriptions for manufacturers start with free, single-screen plans. Meanwhile, enterprise plans include multiple screens along with additional functionality for them. This lets you display different messages in different areas of your operation with a few clicks.
Of course, access to a wide range of templates is included too. This lets you create engaging messages quickly and easily share them throughout your factory.
3. Reduce information overload
Too much is almost as bad as not enough information. If an area of your factory requires multiple types of signs, they can become confusing for employees. HSE regulations advise against too much signage for this reason.
Digital signage cuts through this confusion by enabling you to display multiple signs in one area without the information conflicting. If an area has limited access, specific evacuation procedures in emergencies, and particular safety clothing that needs to be worn, you can schedule these messages in a playlist so they can be shown in a coherent manner.
Upgrade Your factory signage with digital screens
Digital factory signs improve wayfinding and safety, boost productivity, and make sure your whole production line is running smoothly.
Yodeck’s plug-and-play digital signage system makes keeping factory signs up to date easy. Simply install digital screens where staff can see them, connect them with wifi, and start creating your engaging messages. With our templates, playlists, and drag-and-drop functionality, you can get started in moments.