Cloud desktops are starting to play a big role in the digital transformation of manufacturing facilities around the world. Contrary to the traditional isolated desktop environment which factories utilized in the past, a new cloud-based model is taking over the sector as the desktop factory of the future – with new useful features, driving better cost-efficiency and productivity. The cloud is giving the manufacturing industry a head start by offering its customers an innovative centralized technology that promotes streamlining and advanced customization of process (production) lines, ensuring much better business continuity in the long term.

Are we steadily heading towards a future of “cyber-physical manufacturing society” and what benefits would that bring to the sector, we are discussing in the next few sections.

Physical desktops Vs. Cloud Desktop Solutions In Manufacturing

 

The manufacturing industry was also prompted to transition from operations on-site to reduced staff, a hybrid work model, and remote operations. The majority of the manufacturing business clients, at the start of the pandemic, needed an alternative to the expensive virtualization desktop infrastructure or dispersed physical localized devices on site. They needed an IT solution that would keep their data more centralized and less susceptible to malicious threats or hacker attacks, while the staff can access their core applications remotely without any downtime. Virtual cloud desktops helped many manufacturers sustain their operations in uncertain times, but they also presented an enormous opportunity for them to scale up their operations and achieve better business agility overall.

How has the manufacturing sector benefitted from cloud desktop solutions?

Saving on production costs

 

One of the biggest advantages for the manufacturing facilities adopting the cloud desktop services is reduced expenses due to higher automation and control achieved with the technology. Offered on a subscription basis, cloud desktops allow manufacturers to save from buying physical desktops or servers on-site to support the desktop environments of their remotely operating departments. By keeping their data centralized on the cloud servers of their providers, manufacturers don’t need to spend anything extra on software, licensing, upgrades, or round-the-clock IT support for their core applications. Cloud desktop solutions allow different departments such as accounting or fulfillment to organize and manage their work remotely in a faster, more efficient, secure, and cost-effective desktop environment.

Centralized cloud desktop

 

In the previous paragraphs, we already highlighted the importance of centralized management in the manufacturing sector. Having all the information stored and retracted from a single cloud platform supports the work of the connecting departments in the company substantially. Anything to do with the procurement processes to packaging, shipment of the goods, and quality processing of the production lines can be safely kept in a centralized location, accessible to all the allocated company users. With a centralized cloud desktop solution, information can also be shared and exchanged seamlessly between workers, which minimizes errors and boosts productivity significantly. On a larger scale, this data can be used to track different processes and streamline the operation of the responsible departments.

More secure desktop environment

 

The manufacturing sector, like many others using the cloud ‘As a Service’, is benefitting a whole lot from multi-layered system security that comes along with IT solutions like DaaS. The information which manufacturing facilities normally store on cloud servers could also be sensitive or confidential, making it an immediate target to hacker attacks. Whether it is files and documents containing trademarked product designs, regulatory paperwork, or other classified information, manufacturers have to give their data capture practices and security systems some serious consideration when they start to think of managing their workloads remotely. Rigorous monitoring of the cloud infrastructure, end-to-end encryption, and multi-factor authentication are only three of many security features that cloud desktops can offer to the manufacturing facilities so that they are sure that all of their information is safely processed and safeguarded by the third-party provider.

Scaling up manufacturing

 

Regardless of the type of production taking place in a manufacturing plant, there is always the talk of upscaling and growing operations! Nevertheless, manufacturing often experiences lows in market demands, which should also be responded to adequately. Thus, manufacturing companies need IT solutions that are rather scalable to allow employers to adapt to the current customer needs. Cloud desktop workstations are perfect for that purpose since a subscription-based solution be scaled up or down in response to the current demand. Adding and removing new tenants to a desktop environment is done easily by the cloud provider externally. This way manufacturing firms will not waste valuable resources while they can afford to resume their growth at any given point in time.

Conclusion

 

There are a large number of benefits that cloud desktops can bring to manufacturers. Improved security of their systems, better productivity, and greater collaboration from a centralized location, are only a few of the many examples! We can conclude that thanks to the advanced features and the continuous innovation in cloud-computing technology, we are definitely going to see more and more manufacturers heading towards digitalization and more streamlined operations, surely with an outlook to creating the digital factories of the future.