The manufacturing industry has relied on paper for everything from engineering drawings and blueprints to shipping labels, inventory lists, and production orders. But technology has advanced to the point where it can completely replace paper in many areas of manufacturing. The good news for manufacturers is that switching to predominantly paperless operations affords numerous benefits that we are going to cover in this guide.

What Is Paperless Manufacturing?

In short, paperless manufacturing is the process by which businesses switch from their conventional paper-based shop floor operations to electronic ones, giving access to information anytime and wherever it is required. Manufacturers drastically cut down on the amount of paper they use and waste as a result of this technique.

The Pros Of Paperless Manufacturing

Paperless manufacturing enables paper documents to be stored digitally, allowing them to be transmitted electronically and displayed on the factory floor in real time. This provides many benefits for firms.

Realize your aspirations for sustainability

Paper-based factory documentation is wasteful in the first place. Think about the volume of paper used by a factory each day. Despite being difficult to quantify, research indicates that 401 million metric tons of paper and paperboard were produced globally in just 2020. Despite a modest decline from the previous year, the volume of paper produced globally has been largely steady since 2010 at 400 million metric tons annually.

Although recycling paper is better than throwing it away, the best option is to reduce the amount we use or not use it at all. Consider that each sheet of paper requires someone in a factory to deal with it on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

Stop wasting paper and benefit from the savings

Going paperless has the apparent advantage of eliminating the great bulk of the expenditures related to paper. In addition to the paper’s actual cost, associated savings can be made by forgoing the need for storage, handling, printing, and recycling.

Have you ever thought about the yearly expense of your filing space? What does your printing service set you back financially? These possible savings might be recorded immediately on your balance sheet.

Greater transparency and accuracy throughout the process

Think about situations when amended orders that have been granted are required. The first order will have been printed, and it will have eventually found its way to the production floor. After the order has advanced this far, any changes require physically locating the job order and replacing it with an updated version. Even then, there might be several copies of the job order, and mistakes can occur unless every one of them is located and changed.

All of this is a waste of everyone’s time and energy. However, with paperless manufacturing, any modifications are done immediately in the system and are seen by everyone who needs them in real time.

Go into audits with the utmost confidence

Professional certifications and industry compliance are crucial for manufacturers. They not only enhance a company’s reputation and emphasize its dedication to excellence, but they also inspire its workers.

Look at ISO 9001. It sets the precise standards for quality that producers must satisfy. Companies must go through a rigorous compliance audit every three years to keep their ISO 9001 accreditation.

Manufacturers must have their energy data digitally validated in order to qualify for the ISO 50001 Energy Management accreditation, a data-driven ISO standard that focuses on improving energy performance. Traditional paper-based procedures simply cannot accomplish this, thus businesses that do not use paperless production risk losing out on this crucial accreditation for sustainability.

Businesses can enter such audits with total confidence that their records are correct and current if they use paperless manufacturing solutions. Manufacturers can effectively demonstrate their compliance with quality standards during audits if they have quick and easy access to paperwork, such as certificates and production statistics. The management of calibration and non-conformance can also be aided by such paperless methods, making reporting both substantially more efficient and logical.

Start making decisions based on data

Powerful insights for manufacturers are another benefit of digital manufacturing technologies. Trend analysis can be done instantly using data saved electronically. To outline any important discoveries, thorough reports might also be written. With paper-based documentation, this is practically impossible.

Then, businesses can build their continuous improvement initiatives on these findings. Finding training gaps or opportunities, equipment use problems, and quality lapses are a few examples. A firm’s efficiency is unaffected because all of this information can be collected fast and easily.

Manufacturing companies frequently express frustration with the lack of transparency surrounding their shop floor operations. This frequently happens as a result of sticking with paper-based methods because they are unable of visualizing all that is happening at once.

Manufacturers Can Create A Sustainable Brand In The Eyes Of Customers By Adopting Paperless Working Practices

Manufacturers can position themselves as organizations that actively care about the environment from the perspective of customers by introducing paperless working practices and drastically lowering the amount of paper they use.

Having used paper for such a long time, it’s understandable that the switch to paperless manufacturing could be daunting for many firms. The good news is beginning your paperless manufacturing journey does not need to cause you headaches or represent a large capital investment.

Manufacturers typically get a taste for the advantages of digitization after implementing a variety of paperless manufacturing initiatives and don’t want to stop there. Because there are so many options to do away with paper on the shop floor, producers only need to experience the advantages by following a step-by-step plan in order to see how easy this journey can be.