07.11.2022 | Digital Signage screens have become almost indispensable in most office buildings today. At reception, visitors are welcomed; in break rooms, employees are informed; and in front of meeting rooms, a screen shows whether the room is occupied or free. In production facilities or logistics areas, however, Digital Signage was long only sparsely represented. Yet Digital Signage can play a decisive role here and even help optimise business processes.
The importance of Digital Signage for informing employees without PC workstations has increased significantly in recent years — especially in production plants or logistics, where a large proportion of employees still do not have their own PC or even a company email address. Screens provide employees with information on production KPIs, process data, and company news. Screens can even help optimise processes by displaying instructions directly or coordinating entire process lines via the screens.
The right software is crucial
While installing a display window screen for playing images and videos places only minimal requirements on a CMS, such integrated shopfloor solutions are a completely different challenge. The software must process and visualise real time data from dashboards of various third party systems. The solution must therefore be able to interact with all relevant business process systems (data sources). Depending on the area of application, such real time data can even be business critical, since processes rely on employees receiving the correct information and instructions. A powerful Digital Signage software is therefore indispensable.
Often, this involves sensitive data, meaning login procedures must be in place and access must be clearly regulated. In some cases, the Digital Signage hardware even needs to be protected against physical access. Consequently, in addition to performance and reliability, security is a central challenge in the area of shopfloor signage.
Interaction possibilities
The majority of shopfloor signage screens today are static screens. The displays are usually mounted on the ceiling and show one or several dashboards with current KPI figures or work instructions.
However, more interactive solutions exist as well: for an internationally operating industrial company, we developed a “kiosk solution.” The touchscreens display departmental KPIs and company information in “standby mode.” During shopfloor meetings, employees use the screens in presentation mode. Using touch controls, they select one of the available channels. Each of these channels contains a planning tool, a SharePoint file, or a dashboard in which users can work via touch gestures or with mouse and keyboard.
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