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Overview
The current pandemic has impacted almost every industry worldwide and forced businesses to create social distancing in workplaces and implement remote work technologies and strategies. Digital Transformation is enabling Owens Corning’s remote workforce in manufacturing operations, and the pandemic is an accelerator for new digital technologies.
While some companies already had technologies in place to keep workers connected and safe while maintaining productivity, other operations were forced to implement new technologies to enable business continuity. Newer technologies that were implemented for the connected worker include connected worker software, augmented work instructions, AR/VR, new digital dashboards and other visualization technologies, and modern platforms and AI that enable accessible remote data-based decisions. Workers are now able to monitor processes and obtain data insights for better production decisions using these new technologies.
At the recent ARC Advisory Group Forum, Brian Perlstein, Digital Manufacturing Enterprise Architect at Owens Corning, discussed the company’s Manufacturing ROCKET Program, which was set up to enable their remote workforce to maintain operations during the pandemic.
About Owens Corning
Owens Corning is a global company with about $7 billion in sales in 2020. According to Mr. Perlstein, “the company is global in scope but human in scale. We have people and products that make the world a better place through our three market-leading businesses -- roofing, insulation, and glass fiber composites.” In addition to a broad range of insulation products and roofing solutions, the company also produces glass fiber and engineered composite materials that are used in everything from automobiles and bridges to wind energy and personal electronics. With about 19,000 employees in 33 countries, the Fortune 500 company for the past 66 years has also been on the Dow Jones sustainability world index for 11 years.
The Space Race, The Pandemic, and The Remote Worker
As Mr. Perlstein explained, “COVID-19 is Digital Transformation’s Sputnik. Sputnik, a small satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, was the spark that accelerated the space race.” Prior to this, countries such as the United States were working on rockets and satellites, but the launch of Sputnik concerned many countries enough to accelerate their space race efforts. Just like Sputnik, the 
pandemic was the spark that kickstarted digital transformation for many manufacturing companies and changed how they operated.
Prior to January 20, 2020, manufacturing companies around the world were all talking about digital transformation and the value it would bring while dipping their toes into proof-of-concept (POC) pilots. While accelerating digital transformation, the pandemic is also changing people’s behaviors and how they interact and collaborate remotely to safely maintain manufacturing operations. Mr. Perlstein went on to explain, “If you think about space travel, there is a finite number of people that can be on the actual rocket. The astronauts are trained to support their mission, but they still rely on the subject matter experts (SMEs) on the ground to support them in mission control. Take for example, a recent issue at the International Space Station. A leak was detected but it was difficult to identify where the leak was located. The team of scientists on the ISS worked with the remote experts on Earth to come up with the solution to identify its location and patch the leak.”
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Keywords: Remote Connected Workforce, Owens Corning, Accelerating Digital Transformation, Pandemic, Manufacturing ROCKET, ARC Advisory Group.