Among the turbulence and uncertainty created by the pandemic over the past 18 months there have been silver linings — unexpected, positive events that have taken place during this period of history.
Prior to March 2020, manufacturers were heads down, laser-focused on bringing differentiated products to market faster and better than competitors. Then, the forced shutdown put the future of operations in limbo, with supply chains halted and personnel sent home. Rather than continuing to operate in siloes, focused solely on their own survival, manufacturers came together as one, rallying around a common priority: organizational and employee safety.
Organizations typically competing for business joined forces to share best practices and resources to help each other get up and running safely and continue to evolve in a post-pandemic world. A common sentiment emerged: When we work together collectively, the industry is stronger as a result.
The power of safe-workplace playbooks
Just a few weeks after the pandemic hit we saw collaboration at its finest, with major manufacturing players making internal resources available to the masses. For example, automotive supplier Lear Corporation created a Safe Work Playbook, largely focused on health and safety procedures, operating disciplines and employee training. Recognizing that the outlined practices could help guide other organizations’ plans for resuming operations, Lear made the playbook downloadable, editable and free for other companies to use in the early days of the pandemic. A number of manufacturers have since followed suit.
Safe-workplace playbooks have emerged as go-to resources to promote a company-wide safety culture throughout disruption and post-disruption operations. Whether your organization has created its own playbook or taken advantage of open source, downloadable templates, the key is how you manage content to drive accountability, communications and compliance — regularly modifying, evolving and distributing information based on guidance from leading health organizations and internal stakeholders.
Renewed priority on digitization
While the pandemic slowed manufacturing operations, one movement gained speed: the adoption of digitization. According to McKinsey, the move was so rapid that consumer and business digital adoption vaulted five years forward in a matter of eight weeks. This transformation was led by an increase in cloud adoption to support remote working.
Building organizational resilience and adapting to global changes requires manufacturers to seize new digital capabilities. Making safe-workplace playbooks digital and mobile-first allows manufacturers to easily capture and update content, track usage to drive compliance and introduce new guidance when and where needed — demonstrating a corporate-wide commitment to employee safety.
Advance your operational health and safety
Based on a comprehensive enterprise content management (ECM) solution, Safe-Workplace Playbook Management for Manufacturers from OpenText™ helps companies gain a digital foundation to treat these playbooks as the critically important operating assets that they are.
Learn more about how well-managed safe-workplace playbooks can benefit your organization.
