PeteM
Diamond
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2002
- Location
- West Coast, USA
Came across an article on the future of work this morning.
The thrust is that first world nations have been doing a forced seven month experiment on working remotely -- and that experience is likely to change work patterns in the future.
Many of the expert responses are self-serving -- if someone specializes it helping knowledge workers work remotely then no surprise they expect to see more of it. Nevertheless, something like 40% of jobs are now being done at least partly remotely and around 70% of workers say they'd like to see some mix of centralized/remote work continue.
The claimed "pros" of remote work are that it frees up cities, reduces office costs and congestion, eliminates many long commutes, actually improves productivity and job satisfaction according to some, and, of course, helps deal with the pandemic.
The "cons" of remote work are that face-to-face communications are more effective, they build teamwork and trust within a company, and a whole bunch of jobs simply have to be done at a central locations. You can't pick a field of strawberries from home (well, OK, if it's your strawberry patch) and you can't break up an auto-assembly line into home-garage-sized bits.
So, the question is -- how do PM members think this will affect manufacturing? Maybe agriculture and distribution as well, since getting fed is likely job #1.
Many here - the small shops with up to two or three employees - are already pretty much in this mode. They receive models electronically, communicate remotely, make parts -- often on CNC machines -- and ship them out. More cost-effective technologies (from 3D printing to automated plasma cutting and welding robots) augment this.
Some of our largest companies are so highly automated (and likely to get even more highly automated) that near-lights-out operations are possible. "Touch" labor is shrinking in many industries. The designers, engineers, etc. can work remotely. Much of the production is automated. A relatively few techs (compared to say 1950's automation) need to be on assembly lines.
Could be that leaves a whole bunch of medium sized manufacturing companies stuck between a rock and hard place. They may be too small to easily automate and to big to fly under the radar. They already bear a disproportionate burden in this country (compared to, say, a Germany) for health care costs, regulatory compliance, and overheads (accounting, HR, taxes, lawyers, patent attorneys/trolls etc.) as a percent their income.
What about your company? Are you somehow adapting - and turning some of this into a positive? Waiting things out until even better treatments (mortality already way down) and a vaccine? Or simply not coping??
Be nice if we could keep this on topic -- how manufacturing (and perhaps other) work might change over the next few years.
The article: Coronavirus: How the world of work may change forever - BBC Worklife
The thrust is that first world nations have been doing a forced seven month experiment on working remotely -- and that experience is likely to change work patterns in the future.
Many of the expert responses are self-serving -- if someone specializes it helping knowledge workers work remotely then no surprise they expect to see more of it. Nevertheless, something like 40% of jobs are now being done at least partly remotely and around 70% of workers say they'd like to see some mix of centralized/remote work continue.
The claimed "pros" of remote work are that it frees up cities, reduces office costs and congestion, eliminates many long commutes, actually improves productivity and job satisfaction according to some, and, of course, helps deal with the pandemic.
The "cons" of remote work are that face-to-face communications are more effective, they build teamwork and trust within a company, and a whole bunch of jobs simply have to be done at a central locations. You can't pick a field of strawberries from home (well, OK, if it's your strawberry patch) and you can't break up an auto-assembly line into home-garage-sized bits.
So, the question is -- how do PM members think this will affect manufacturing? Maybe agriculture and distribution as well, since getting fed is likely job #1.
Many here - the small shops with up to two or three employees - are already pretty much in this mode. They receive models electronically, communicate remotely, make parts -- often on CNC machines -- and ship them out. More cost-effective technologies (from 3D printing to automated plasma cutting and welding robots) augment this.
Some of our largest companies are so highly automated (and likely to get even more highly automated) that near-lights-out operations are possible. "Touch" labor is shrinking in many industries. The designers, engineers, etc. can work remotely. Much of the production is automated. A relatively few techs (compared to say 1950's automation) need to be on assembly lines.
Could be that leaves a whole bunch of medium sized manufacturing companies stuck between a rock and hard place. They may be too small to easily automate and to big to fly under the radar. They already bear a disproportionate burden in this country (compared to, say, a Germany) for health care costs, regulatory compliance, and overheads (accounting, HR, taxes, lawyers, patent attorneys/trolls etc.) as a percent their income.
What about your company? Are you somehow adapting - and turning some of this into a positive? Waiting things out until even better treatments (mortality already way down) and a vaccine? Or simply not coping??
Be nice if we could keep this on topic -- how manufacturing (and perhaps other) work might change over the next few years.
The article: Coronavirus: How the world of work may change forever - BBC Worklife