Low Code and No Code in Manufacturing: Accelerating Industrial Applications

If you spend time on a plant floor, you have probably heard these same requests in a variety of ways:

• “We need a small app to track this.”
• “Can we get a quick dashboard for that?”
• “I just need an easier way to collect data.”

Low-code and no-code tools exist to answer those requests without waiting months (or years) for a traditional software project. In our recent Industry4.0 Club webinar, co-founders Jan Pingel and Ira Sharp hosted Tobey Strauch, Senior Staff Electrical Engineering Project Manager with Arconic, to cut through the buzz and focus on where these tools actually fit, what to watch out for, and how to get real results.

Low Code and No Code on the Plant Floor

Low code gives technical people a visual toolbox to assemble applications with minimal custom programming. No code goes a step beyond, allowing domain experts to build simple workflows and forms with drag and drop.

In manufacturing, both approaches shine when the scope is targeted such as: digital checklists, quality data collection, operator guidance, electronic traveler updates, rework tracking, downtime and scrap logging, and other lightweight dashboards that combine data from OT and IT systems.

In the past, these capabilities often lived in someone’s spreadsheet. Low code and no code move them into repeatable, supportable apps.

Supplementing, Not Replacing, Major Plant Systems

While low code and no code in manufacturing can be powerful, the apps should be supplementing major plant systems, not replacing them. As an example, low code should not become a shadow MES. Instead, think of the apps as connective tissue around core systems. They can fill gaps your MES or SCADA teams will never prioritize. The apps can also speed up pilot projects before you harden a requirement into a standard.

The sweet spot is to read from the systems of record, add logic at the edge or in a small service, and then write back clean data. That means your apps must respect master data, recipe control, and versioning.

If tools cannot align to existing identifiers, routings, and part numbers, you are creating a parallel universe that will be hard to sustain.

Best Practices to Achieve Value

Success with low code and no code takes discipline. Best practices include:

• Each app needs an owner and a simple lifecycle, so “temporary” tools do not become permanent without support.
• Treat visual apps like regular software, including version control, testing, and deployment in production environments with an easy rollback path.
• Agree on a data contract up front, so everyone knows what the app reads and writes.
• Apply your company’s usual practices for authentication, authorization, and audit.

Finally, track cycle time from idea to deployment then monitor adoption, error rates, and business outcomes, so you can champion and support what you deliver. For outcomes, be sure to report on hours saved per shift and data quality improvements.

With low code and no code, the point is not that anyone can build anything. The point is that you can move from idea to working software in days, collect better data, and make decisions faster.

A small app that removes one manual step from every order will return value week after week. When you have five of those, the compound benefit is obvious.

Teamwork: Getting People Involved

The success of app projects depends on the individuals participating in them. Here are some expert recommendations for your app team:

• The best citizen developer is an operator, planner, or engineer who lives with the problem every day and wants to improve it.
• Give them coaching and a sandbox.
• Pair them with an IT or OT partner who handles integration and security.

In the webinar, the strongest examples came from teams that co-designed small solutions in a week or two, deployed to a single line, gathered feedback, and then scaled with training and templates.

As with any software deployment, address change management upfront. Adoption on the plant floor is smoother when users help build the tool.

Practical Steps to Get Started

To get started, look for areas where paper and spreadsheets slow you down. Ideas include:

• Replace quality, safety, and maintenance logs with simple digital forms that capture timestamps and photos.
• Add simple operator guidance that embeds short work instructions and captures verification data at each station.
• Track downtime reasons and show a basic Pareto, so the next Kaizen has focus.
• In some operations, you could add barcode scans for subassembly traceability and route sign-offs without email chains.
• Even a small visual job board that reflects WIP from MES and machine state from SCADA can pay back quickly.

When starting, pick one line and one pain point, scoped to a single team and a single data flow. Assign a citizen developer and a technical partner with clear guardrails and weekly demos. Build a two-week prototype and put it in front of users. Harden what works with IDs, access control, and monitoring, then retire the old spreadsheet or paper. Turn the result into a small kit that another line can reuse with minimal changes.

When Not to Use Low Code or No Code

As mentioned earlier, low code and no code don’t replace existing systems and don’t solve all software needs. If you need deterministic real-time control, complex recipe management, or validated systems with strict qualifications, stay with your control platform or specialized software.

If a workflow is already standard across plants and audited regularly, extend the system of record rather than duplicating it.

Also, if a project requires heavy custom algorithms or optimization processes, standard development may still be the better path.

Move Faster with Discipline

Low code and no code are not a silver bullet, but they are a practical way to tap into trapped process knowledge and stop the growth of spreadsheets.

Used with discipline, they help you standardize where it matters, customize where it helps, and get value faster without creating a tangle of one-off tools.

Remember: start small, design for scale, measure the result, and keep the people who do the work at the center of the process. That’s how you move fast without breaking the factory.

Ready to learn more? Watch the full webinar, Low Code, No Code - Applications in Manufacturing.