it on the shop floor isn’t as easy as assigning devices to employees and installing software. Careful consideration of how tablet technology potentially could benefit each new factory application is the first step before a mobility pilot begins, and only the sites with a strong business case move forward. IT then must prepare the infrastructure at the site, said Brad Wright, the IT Business Partner for the Commercial Aviation Services Digital Aviation Business and former director of IT Global Collaboration Services. This includes building secure wireless networking, securing the devices themselves, and addressing infrastructure, software and security considerations. The team from across IT—including representatives from IT Infrastructure, Information Security and Product Systems—also develops mobile versions of existing systems so shop-floor workers can operate efficiently and securely in a paperless environment. “Mobility itself was still pretty new when we first started out and we didn’t know ourselves how it would ultimately fit. Trying to get customers to see the value of mobility at that time was difficult,” said Emmanuel Nkeze, a business relationship manager in Collaboration & Communication Services. “Now, many programs are interested in working with mobility.” As the mobility data come in, IT will continue to work with programs across the enterprise to see if mobility is a good fit, and to implement mobile versions of more IT applications for use on the shop floor, Nkeze said. Meanwhile, employees at locations where mobility already is a part of their everyday life say the devices and software have made a real difference. “With the iPad, I probably save 15 to 20 percent in the time it would take to come out to the computer or pull drawings up on a laptop,” said Hernandez, the Apache assembly technician in Mesa. “It’s a great tool.” n kenn.johnson@boeing.com meghan.j.boyer@boeing.com BEIO NG FRONTEIRS / SEPTEMBER 2013 27
Frontiers September 2013 Issue
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