The Digital Future of Manufacturing

The Digital Future of Manufacturing

Efficiency is the word that will define the digital future of manufacturing. This is how companies are going to separate themselves from their competition.

The more efficiently a company can produce a product, the more products it can produce at a lower cost which results in higher profit margins.

One major trend in the manufacturing industry is the use of increasingly high-tech production techniques.

Robotics, computers and programmable equipment are becoming more mainstream. These tools are helping to increase efficiency and decrease the need for unskilled labor.

Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution, is revolutionizing the future of manufacturing by providing manufacturers with the opportunity to utilize advanced manufacturing capabilities and information technology (IT) throughout the product life cycle.

To stay Industry 4.0 competitive, manufacturers must commit to doing 4 things:

1. identify critical business needs
2. invest in technology
3. build organizational capabilities
4. adapt manufacturing processes and culture to remain relevant

As a result, manufacturers are benefiting from increased visibility into operations, substantial cost savings, faster production times and the ability to provide excellent customer support. This is the future of manufacturing.

Innovation is driving business growth, and technology is enabling manufacturers to evolve with an increasingly digital-first business landscape.

Robotics, CAD, and machine-assisted processes all have a huge impact on manufacturing.

The only way manufacturers can stay ahead of competitors and win market share in today’s quickly morphing environment is to embrace change.

The future of manufacturing is all about bringing new technologies together to create a data-powered environment that is able to constantly learn and improve operations.

From changing the way humans interact with digital tools, to automatically gathering information, every part of the manufacturing process is set up to simplify operations and enhance the processes surrounding it.

Here is an overview of some trends happening now that will only continue to evolve and positively impact the future of manufacturing:

IoT – Internet of Things

Manufacturers are increasingly leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT), the interconnection of unique devices within an existing internet infrastructure, to achieve a variety of goals including cost reduction, increased efficiency, improved safety, meeting compliance requirements, and product innovation.

More than 50% of manufacturers believe that applying IoT to products will increase profitability over the next 5 years. They understand that IoT empowers them to make informed strategic decisions by providing crucial, real-time information.

Nearly a third of production processes and equipment and non-production processes and equipment already incorporate smart device/embedded intelligence.

Predictive Maintenance and Production

A breakdown in critical equipment is costly to manufacturers both in terms of repairs as well as downtime and loss of productivity. 98% of organizations say a single hour of downtime costs over $100,000. Ensuring all equipment is functioning optimally remains a key priority for manufacturers, many of whom are turning to predictive maintenance technology to do so.

Widespread adoption of predictive maintenance technologies could have a significant impact on future manufacturing. New technologies could help reduce a companies’ maintenance costs by 20%, reduce unplanned outages by 50% and extend machinery life by years.

Predictive maintenance programs monitor equipment using any number of performance metrics. By automating the data collection process through the use of IoT technology, manufacturers can develop a better understanding of how systems work and when they will fail.

The ability to predict when maintenance should be performed saves manufacturers valuable time, money, and resources. Typically, monitoring tests can be conducted while equipment is in operation, which means there is no loss of production due to equipment shutdown. With the right data foundation and sensors monitoring, even the most complex manufacturing process can become completely automated.

Shifting Focus From B2B to B2B2C

Many manufacturers who traditionally have a B2B business model are shifting to a B2B2C (business-to-business-to-consumer) model due to the many benefits of selling directly to consumers:

• Increased Profit: the ability to get the full manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) rather than wholesale prices for products
• Faster Time to Market: products can go to market quickly instead of contending with the lengthy traditional retail sales cycle that requires product development far ahead of order and delivery. This type of agility is a great competitive edge
• Brand Control: own your brand. This way it won’t be run or misrepresented by third parties
• Price Control: reinforce the MSRP price you want
• Better Customer Data: allows you to collect data about them that is invaluable in developing better products, stronger relationships, and increased sales

To effectively sell directly to consumers you will need to select an e-commerce platform that supports both your B2B and B2C sales platforms. The site has to deliver on order fulfillment and tracking, secure payments, customer service management, sales, and marketing activity tracking while providing a comprehensive view of all your B2B and B2C customer interactions.

Streamlining ERP System Processes

Small to medium-sized manufacturing companies are increasingly recognizing that an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is key to creating a lean and competitive advantage.

ERP systems offer 2 key benefits:

• Streamline effect by automating all business operations and providing accurate, real-time information
• Provide accurate, real-time information to reduce administrative and operational costs

The end result is that manufacturers can proactively manage operations, prevent disruptions and delays, break up information roadblocks and help users make quicker decisions. Manufacturers now have the option to choose a rapid implementation ERP system, which can be up and running much faster and more affordably than traditional ERP systems.

Insight Into Big Data

IoT is transforming almost every surface into a sensor for data collection and providing real-time insights for manufacturers. The ability to collect data from so many sources combined with powerful cloud computing is finally making big data usable. Manufacturers can dissect data in ways that provide them with a comprehensive understanding of their business.

The end result allows people at all levels to be empowered to make better-informed decisions about production and maintenance. This enables them to improve production, optimize operations, and address issues before problems arise.

VR and AR

Assistive technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), will continue to create beneficial partnerships between man and machine that positively impact the future of manufacturing.

Due to VR software interfacing seamlessly with computer-aided designs, product developers can use VR to quickly make modifications and additions to products during the product design stage before they go into modeling and manufacturing processes. AR and VR can also decrease inspection time and assist in detecting errors in addition to improving workers’ sightline, which enables them to complete tasks faster. With data from across the factory and readily able to continuously learn by monitoring operations, artificial intelligence can be the foundation of a connected digital factory.

For example, by using AR devices such as electronic glasses or goggles, computer-generated graphics can be placed in a worker’s field of vision that provide real-time help when it comes to performing a task. AR technology can also be used with cameras and sensors for training. Workers can be shown how to perform a task and use the data feed to correct mistakes, which makes it possible to quickly and effectively train unskilled workers for high-value work.

These types of smart factories can become perfectly self-sustaining. Each part and process generates data, that data is then automatically analyzed and acted upon by AI, then the AI makes intelligent decisions, based on real-time information about what’s going on at that moment. This is the next phase of automation and the future of manufacturing. This is an opportunity to bring objective, real-time, data-driven decision-making into the factory and to ensure the data gathered is used to improve all aspects of operations.

3D Printing is Making Production Faster and Cheaper

Manufacturers will benefit from faster, less expensive production as a result of 3D printing. This type of printing makes rapid prototyping which is a highly cost-effective way for product designers to test and troubleshoot their products. It also enables manufacturers to produce items on demand instead of having to manufacture and warehouse them.

The expensive and time-consuming process of tooling for manufacturers is already being transformed by 3D printing. Historically the production of molds, jigs, and fixtures used in the mass production of heavy equipment would take months, is very expensive and typically involved utilizing tooling companies headquartered overseas.

3D printing now makes it possible for tooling to be more cost-effective, completed on-site and has already been embraced by the automotive and aerospace manufacturing industries.

Advanced Robotics

Robotics have been used in factories for many years. Recent developments in the physical capabilities of robots and in the software used to power them have produced more results than ever. Manufacturing robots don’t simply perform the same basic task in an assembly line. They can be programmed to gather data across the business and execute precision tasks such as product customizations. The next generation of manufacturing robots are designed to turn data into automated physical outputs. The more information you can feed them the more they will be able to do without human or manual intervention.

Digitally Skilled Workers

Attracting and retaining top digital talent is a major challenge. Once talent is on board, those people also need the right tools to perform effectively for you in their role. In addition to the right skills, your people need to be armed with modern solutions and collaborative technologies to do their jobs as effectively as possible and become an integrated part of the smart connected factory themselves.

Digital transformation requires the right people—not just in terms of their digital skills, but also in their ability and drive to innovate. If you want to make great things happen in digital manufacturing, you need a team of people that are both capable and driven to achieve that kind of digital transformation. In order to attract the kind of digital – often millennial talent – that is required to power digital manufacturing, you need to understand what those people are looking for in a modern employer.

Today’s top digital talent demands a certain level of user experience. People want to be empowered to work in ways that suit them and have the same kind of seamless technology experiences at work they’re used to getting in their personal lives. In practice, that means offering things like mobility to work from anywhere, enabling open and continuous collaboration, and making all systems and interfaces as simple and intuitive to engage with as possible. When you empower your employees and deliver superior user experiences for them, word will get out, and top digital talent will naturally start to gravitate towards you.

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