The Shop Floor That Won't Check Slack... What Is the 'Temperature' of Text That Remote Production Managers Keep in Mind? | Realities of Full-Remote Manufacturing Back Office (SCM/Production Management) 26

"I sent a message to the factory contact, but it hasn't even been read."
"I tagged them for an urgent delivery confirmation, but there's no reply by evening."

If you work in SCM or production management fully remotely, you have likely hit this wall of text communication at least once.

To coordinate smoothly with shop floors that aren't used to IT tools, I will talk about the "foundation building" and "text temperature" I practice, and the ingenuity I put into them.

There are many shop floors that have never used chat tools

The world is overflowing with terms like DX and operational efficiency.
However, in small and medium-sized manufacturing shop floors, it is extremely rare for tools like Slack or Teams to be ingrained from the start.

For shop floors that have perfectly managed operations until now using only phones, faxes, or direct conversation, it is understandable that the introduction of new tools is perceived as "just adding troublesome work."

Even so, there are factories that have started using Slack through trial and error, accompanying company structural changes or the introduction of remote work.
A shop floor that challenges our way of doing things while being inexperienced is a truly valuable presence.
That is precisely why not forcing tool rules onto the shop floor, but preparing a foundation that is easy for them to use is an important initial setup for full-remote SCM.

The reality of depending on the person in charge

Just because you finally invited them to Slack doesn't mean everyone is looking at the screen with the same frequency.
Some people notice notifications and react immediately, while others don't open the app at all until evening because they don't want to stop their work.
If the point of contact is a salesperson, there are also those who cannot easily open Slack during the day because they are out on calls.

Therefore, how much mentions like "@here" or "@contact-name" function depends entirely on the individual habits of the shop floor contact.

In response to this, blaming the other party for "why they won't look" is misguided.
The shop floor is occupied with the production line or shipping work right in front of them.
I first started by observing "how many times a day and at what timing they look at their PC or smartphone."

After the morning assembly, before the lunch break, and after the evening shipping work or meetings are finished.
I predict the other party's flow of movement and send important communications with a conscious time lag so they arrive just before that timing.
Of course, it is also important not to mention them right before the deadline, but to send communications early and while there is still leeway.

Instead of relying on the tool's functions, an approach where we adapt to the other party's work flow might be worth trying.

The "coldness" of text creates a wall with the shop floor

When I worry that they won't look at Slack or that replies are slow, I try to review the messages I sent.
Because SCM is a job where delays and discrepancies from other departments aggregate and fall upon you, it is easy for impatience like "I want to grasp the situation quickly" or "I want to decide quickly" to arise.

As a result, I tend to send business-like texts that only convey facts and demands, such as "When is the delivery date for XX?" or "Please confirm urgently."

However, from the shop floor's perspective, if an inorganic and cold text like an "interrogation" arrives while they are busy working with their hands, they might unconsciously want to put it off.

Parts that can be covered by tone of voice or facial expressions in person are amplified and conveyed as "coldness" or "harshness" when it is only text.

To resolve this coldness, I intentionally use ingenuity to add "temperature" to the text.

For example, instead of just asking for the delivery date, I add the background by saying, "I'm sorry, but I've received an urgent consultation from sales." I imagine the other party's current situation and
insert cushion words like, "I imagine it's a busy time with the line being backed up right now, but..."

Alternatively, I sometimes intentionally break away from overly polished business email templates and change them to a slightly frank and soft expression that is closer to the language used on the shop floor.

Just by mixing a little bit of appreciation and context into your writing, the temperature of your text will change dramatically.
It is important to dispel the impression of being "monitored" or "rushed" and convey through text the stance that "we are coordinating this together."

Avoid a proliferation of threads to prevent people from getting lost

The thread feature is what confuses people who are not used to chat tools the most.
The design where conversations continue in a way that is linked to the bottom of a single post can cause a phenomenon where people "don't know what is written where" until they get used to it.

If conversations are scattered across various threads, the staff on the shop floor will lose the motivation to read them just from that.
Therefore, if it seems like the context will be impossible to follow later unless the conversation happens within a thread, I paste a link to the relevant post within the appropriate thread.

In a sea of text, you need to provide navigation so that the shop floor staff don't get lost.

Lowering the hurdle for input to the absolute minimum by utilizing workflows

One of the reasons the shop floor dislikes text input is that they "don't know what to write" or "thinking about sentences is a hassle."
To solve this, I utilize Slack's workflow feature.

For example, when having the shop floor report sudden material shortages, delivery date changes, or initial defects in parts, I prepare a dedicated input form instead of free-text messages.
I set it up so that they can enter the "part number," "quantity," and "desired delivery date" just by using pull-downs or short numbers.
For the shop floor, it becomes "just tapping away on a smartphone," and for me, it creates a state where "the necessary information is gathered in one go without any omissions."

Instead of asking for effort from the shop floor, make input easier through systems.
This is the trick to making text communication last.

It's not about being fast or slow, but about organizing the order so that things don't stop

What is required of a full-remote SCM is by no means the perfect mastery of the latest IT tools.
Precisely because it is a world of text-only information, you need the grit to imagine the situation of the "person" on the other side of the screen and deliver information in the way that is easiest for them to act on.

As I carefully lay the groundwork and adjust the temperature of the text, the factory staff who initially stubbornly only used the phone gradually start sending reports via Slack.

Reducing the burden on the shop floor and eliminating operational delays.
I feel that this, too, is an important role of the back office to ensure the shop floor never stops.

Thank you for reading until the end!
What kind of ingenuity are you using at your workplace?
Please let me know in the comments.

In this series, I am recording the ingenuity that supports the manufacturing industry through full remote work, bit by bit.

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