But all is not roses with BYOD. Despite its usefulness in manufacturing, BYOD presents a range of challenges. Unlike industrial PCs, consumer mobile devices are not designed to endure the stresses commonly encountered in manufacturing, such as vibration, heat, water and electrical interference. Moreover, the limited battery life of personal communications presents problems, such as the need to recharge a device mid-shift.
Security also remains an issue. Integration of smartphones and tablets into the company network adds a potential new point of vulnerability for hackers to exploit. Furthermore, smartphones or tablets that contain sensitive company data and are lost or misplaced could fall into the wrong hands, and employees who resign or retire may retain company information on their devices either accidentally or on purpose.
Company policies on the use of BYOD vary and are still very much a work in process, and, despite the hype about the usefulness of smart devices on the factory floor, a significant number of companies remain unconvinced that the risks and complications surrounding their use are worth the reward.
According to the IHS Technology survey, 46% of manufacturers surveyed allow BYOD in their plants and plan to continue to allow it for at least three years, and another 11% plan to adopt its use with three years. However, 20% of those surveyed don't allow it now and have no plans to do so within that three-year window, and another 7% allow BYOD now, but are planning to discontinue its use. Indicative of the newness of the BYOD phenomenon and the uncertainly surrounding its use in manufacturing, fully 16% of those surveyed don't know what their company's policy is or what its plans for either allowing or forbidding it in the future.
