6 Ways You Can Digitize Manufacturing Floor Processes with Zebra and CDW

From labour shortages to manual processes, the following challenges may impact the overall productivity of a manufacturing plant worker.

1. Labour shortages and high turnover

When experienced workers are hard to find and keep, onboarding takes longer and error rates can rise. This increases the pressure on the current workforce, leading to subpar performance and worker burnout.

2. Keeping up with production expectations

Constantly rising demand and shorter delivery expectations raise the cost of mistakes. Manufacturers need better process guidance and more consistent execution to avoid rework and scrap.

3. Paper-based workflows and delayed data entry

Paper checklists, travelers and manual documentation slow down work, creating gaps in traceability. Workers have to manually digest information and move around the floor to properly track production workflows.

4. Unplanned downtime due to device and connectivity issues

Breakdowns and interruptions can significantly impact throughput. Device failures and unreliable wireless connections can trigger lost productivity and create added support time.

Rugged tablets are purpose-built, enterprise-class devices designed to withstand environments such as manufacturing floors and receiving docks.

Our partners at Zebra offer a range of rugged tablet devices built to support plant mobility, so workers can access applications and data where the work happens instead of relying on fixed workstations.

Key Zebra tablet features for manufacturing

• Rugged, purpose-built design to handle common causes of device failure in manufacturing, such as drops on concrete, water and dust exposure.
• Enterprise-class wireless connectivity options such as Wi‑Fi 6/6E and cellular (including 5G/private 5G), designed for facilities with metal infrastructure.
• Integrated data capture tools, including barcode scanning and image capture, to improve the speed and accuracy of data entry.
• Field-friendly power options, including replaceable and swappable batteries and, in some cases, hot or warm battery swap support to keep devices available through long shifts.
• Collaboration capabilities that can support faster issue resolution, such as video calls and optional solutions that can add push-to-talk, calling and secure messaging.

From efficient quality assurance to warehouse management, here are six ways these tablets can support manufacturing workers for better productivity.

A rugged tablet can serve as a mobile HMI, giving technicians and engineers access to machine data and controls without being stuck in a control room. For example, workers supporting programmable logic controllers (PLCs) can use a tablet to view readings, reference schematics and interact with processes from anywhere in the facility.

This mobility can help reduce wasted steps and speed up decisions. Instead of making repeated calls to the control room or searching through physical manuals, workers can pull up the information they need on the spot and move directly from diagnosis to action.

• Digitize maintenance workflows (forms, checklists, records) to speed up data capture, reduce manual entry and improve traceability across work orders.
• Create a usable data trail that can help teams identify bottlenecks and patterns by comparing records across similar machines.
• Improve collaboration and response time using built-in communications.

Quality checks are often time-sensitive, but traditional approaches may require moving items to a dedicated station. With rugged tablets, teams can conduct spot checks wherever necessary, whether on incoming materials, in-process products or finished goods.

Rugged tablets can also support faster, more accurate documentation. Workers can scan barcodes, capture photos and complete quality checklists in real time, reducing manual entry later and creating a more complete audit trail.

• Shorten issue-resolution cycles through quick access to remote experts through video calls.
• Use digital quality data for operational insights, such as spotting recurring error trends on specific lines and addressing root causes sooner.
• Increase the number of spot checks per shift by enabling “anywhere, anytime” inspection workflows on mobile devices.

A manufacturing execution system (MES) can be more effective when workers can access it directly on the line. Rugged tablets can display digital assembly instructions at any station, helping ensure each step is completed correctly, which is especially helpful during onboarding or when roles shift.

By using handheld rugged tablets, workers have the flexibility to operate each step of the assembly with a portable device, instead of having to come back to a fixed station.

• Digitize job travelers to remove lag time from paper collection and later entry and to reduce lost or damaged documentation.
• Enable data entry tasks on the floor by using workstation cradles to convert tablets into temporary workstations (monitor, keyboard or mouse) where needed.
• Improve throughput and task accuracy through more immediate access to MES information and faster capture of production data.

Training has to keep pace with changing production needs and staffing realities. Rugged tablets can deliver on-demand training content to workers wherever they are, supporting onboarding, cross-training and refresher learning without pulling people off the floor for long periods.

The larger tablet display can make it easier to follow detailed training modules, watch short how-to videos for specific steps or join instructor-led sessions. Some environments may also use augmented reality to help train workers on complex tasks.

• Improve compliance visibility by tracking which courses workers complete and helping ensure required training is done.
• Identify training gaps faster by reviewing which courses get replayed often, signaling steps that may need better guidance.
• Enable faster support during training using push-to-talk or calling options so workers can reach help without leaving the line.

Maintenance teams often need access to detailed information, from equipment manuals and schematics to service history. Rugged tablets can bring those resources to the point of work, helping technicians complete more work orders per day and reduce administrative overhead.

Digitized maintenance records can improve speed, accuracy and traceability and create a data set that can help identify recurring issues.

• Enable expert-assisted maintenance through video calls and push-to-talk, which can shorten troubleshooting time and improve fix quality.
• Support less-experienced technicians with digitized work instructions and optional augmented reality guidance to reduce mistakes.
• Use maintenance data to predict issues by building a digital record set that can help identify repeat failures and potential downtime risks.

Many manufacturing operations rely on timely lineside replenishment. If materials do not arrive when needed, the production line can stop and unplanned downtime can become extremely costly.

With a warehouse management system (WMS) running on rugged tablets, operators can receive real-time pick and putaway tasks, scan items as they move and update inventory immediately. This can improve inventory visibility and help reduce false out-of-stocks caused by misplaced items or delayed putaway.

• Enable forklift-mounted workflows where rugged tablets can operate in vehicles and support prioritized work assignments.
• Increase inventory visibility by capturing transactions immediately, helping teams reorder sooner and reduce false out-of-stocks.
• Speed up exception handling through real-time communication with control rooms while serving on the floor.

Rugged mobility works best when it matches your environment, workflows and support model.

CDW Canada can help you identify the right rugged tablet for your plant floor, evaluating features that matter the most to your manufacturing business. Our technology experts can help you find Zebra technology to boost your manufacturing efficiency.

If Zebra rugged tablets are part of your plan, CDW can simplify the path from selection to rollout. That can include helping you align devices to specific use cases (for example, mobile HMI, quality checks, MES access, training, maintenance and WMS workflows) and ensuring the right accessories and connectivity options are included.

Beyond hardware, CDW can support the full lifecycle from assessing requirements and designing a deployment plan to configuration and ongoing management services, backed by your CDW account manager and solution architects.