How Intranets Support B2B Manufacturing Companies

The B2B manufacturing industry faces multiple challenges when it comes to efficient operations, including delayed information flow, lack of a central document repository with crucial manufacturing information, or a common dashboard for real time updates to handle emergencies and provide backups. In a manufacturing environment, there is more need to share information in real-time to make decisions and maintain optimum productivity.

A strategically designed and developed intranet helps manufacturers by providing a modern digital workplace solution for real-time information sharing, central storage, easy document collaboration, and multiple channels for communication and content retrieval.

What are Intranets?

An intranet is defined as a private internal network that supports an organization's employees. It does this by facilitating communication, collaboration, and information-sharing through digital tools securely connected across multiple devices and channels.

Intranets are just one of the many tools that make up the digital workplace. An intranet provides one central place to store all your company documents, so they are always up-to-date and can be accessed by anyone within your team; it also ensures that staff turnover doesn't affect access to knowledge and data. When employees can find the information they need to perform their jobs on a day to day basis, the company functions more smoothly and delivers better results for their customers.

For B2B manufacturers in particular, it’s important that the right intranet platform and software exists to support internal efficiencies and provide the workers with the tools they need to succeed. Creating an efficient intranet and picking the right developer to do so is critical for every manufacturing company.

How Intranets Support Manufacturers

Manufacturing industries include a mix of verticals and business types with varying internal activities and processes, but all manufacturing companies have a need for sales, production, HR, planning, finances, customer care, and deliveries. For intranets to support these core functions, they must strike the right balance between managing and securing information, serving as the safest and most preferred channel for team members to access data and collaborate for improved communication and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Internal Communication

Primarily, an intranet works as a tool that gives your employees fast and efficient access to internal company information, along with a way to communicate and get answers to important questions in real-time. Internal communication through the intranet in a manufacturing environment may include:

• Important events
• Company announcements
• Industry news
• Corporate “social networking” that helps connect remote and desk-less workers

Document Management

The intranet acts as a central place to store large amounts of documentation, and multiple channels to share ideas internally. These documents are often highly sensitive and confidential, so manufacturing organizations must ensure their intranet is built by the right development agency that is able to keep it secured and protect the organization’s intellectual property. These documents often include the following:

• Data sheets
• Product specifications
• Certifications
• Quality control
• Risk assessments

Manage HR Processes

Human Resources departments are a key pillar to the success of manufacturing industries. To ensure your business can meet customer expectations and overcome the challenges threatening the industry, you need to make sure you have a skilled workforce. In today’s digital age an intranet is an imperative tool to keep employees informed and provide access to resources such as:

• Benefits/insurance
• Reviews/appraisals
• Vacation requests
• Recruitment
• Training materials and tutorials

Support Multiple Languages

Manufacturing companies have a lot to gain from an intranet-based platform in a multicultural environment. It can be used to coordinate the work of different units which may be globally scattered, improving and streamlining processes through timely information dispersal and real-time collaborative communication. An intranet supports multiple language users within a manufacturing organization in multiple scenarios:

• When global manufacturing workforces are distributed across multiple countries
• Increasingly needed as international market economies (and supply chains) become more globalized
• As workforces become more diversified, offering resources in multiple languages ensures all staff can access and benefit

Provide Insights Through Custom Dashboards

A manufacturing dashboard is a real-time visual representation of a manufacturing process. Manufacturing dashboards combine graphs, tables, and other visualization techniques to make production KPIs easy to understand. For example with production dashboards, you don't have to spend time gathering and analyzing production data. Intranet dashboards can be customized according to your manufacturing requirements and helps in the following ways, in brief

• To see important information at-a-glance
• Inventory, production/operations, product development, financials

Accessible through Multiple Devices

The intranet is a private network within your manufacturing environment that allows workers to securely exchange company information and other resources. An intranet can also be utilized for group collaboration and teleconferences as well. To achieve these goals, the intranet must be available from anywhere and at any time. As a result, device compatibility must be carefully considered, and your intranet should be accessible both through desktop and mobile browsers. One option is to build the intranet as a PWA with web accessibility is important through the intranet as it empowers all your skilled workers and employees equally and also adds value to your brand.

Get the Intranet Your Manufacturing Company Needs

Using a manufacturing intranet can help achieve the digital transformation goals of manufacturing businesses while increasing your operational efficiency, internal collaboration, and communication. The right intranet helps your manufacturing organization bring efficiency and excellence to overall operations, and also provides a central location to manage everything, from collaboration and documentation to complex business functions such as project management, business process automation, workflows, reporting, forms and much more.

To find out more about how intranet can further benefit your organization, contact DBS to discuss how we can design and build the best intranet for your B2B manufacturing business.