Advanced Machine Engineering for SMBs: A Golden Ticket to Competitive Advantage
Growing up, I loved the central concept of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: an extraordinary factory accessible via a golden ticket. I found myself once again mulling over Dahl’s story when thinking about advanced machine engineering (AME) recently, because it too offers a “golden ticket” for SMB manufacturers to solve coordination problems, testing and validation issues, and increasing demands for customization.?Let’s examine further what AME can do for SMB manufacturers.??
What is AME?
AME are processes encouraging multidisciplinary design by merging different skill sets in a collaborative environment. It promotes virtual simulation and commissioning to reduce engineering time and enhance safety with a virtual twin, a digital model of physical products or systems, and a virtual thread, a digital form of individual tasks and decisions. AME includes multidisciplinary bill of materials (BOM) and configuration management, which empowers SMBs to fill customized orders. Smaller manufacturers can use it to achieve greater efficiency, innovation, and collaboration throughout the product lifecycle.
Chronic Challenges
Like Dahl’s Charlie Bucket, smaller manufacturers are often disadvantaged in a global marketplace, struggling with time-to-market complications, coordination problems and customization demands—just to name a few. While many manufacturers recognize the importance of technology, only 20% consider themselves prepared to handle the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. And while 85% of businesses see the promise of Industry 4.0, only 15% say they have dedicated strategies in place. AME addresses this by helping SMBs fully realize the benefits of digital technology to create tomorrow's complex machines.
Better Collaboration with AME
Manufacturing is growing increasingly complex. Electrical motors, for instance, run through densely coded software adaptable to real-time conditions. AME’s multidisciplinary design accounts for this by breaking down silos between mechanical, electrical and software engineers. It creates a single source of truth to reduce back-and-forth and blends specialties for optimal outputs.
Safe and Efficient Validation
Virtual machine simulation and commissioning allows testing to be done within a digital environment. Product lifecycle management (PLC) software knits together data streams into a “digital thread” for validation. Machine builders, for instance, can simulate design upfront and link the software to their modules. Manufacturers then use this “digital twin” to validate concepts faster, improving their time-to-market and decision-making.?
As no one buys a machine sight-unseen, engineers can also let customers virtually interact with products. Leveraging these processes can bestow production advantages and financial benefits. One firm used virtual simulation to cut commissioning time to 70 percent and compress engineering time by 25 percent.
Virtual machine simulation also improves safety. Anyone who has worked in manufacturing knows the risks. Even if you haven’t, just think of when Dahl’s Veruca Salt turned into a giant blueberry! Though nothing that “fantastical” ever happens on a real factory floor, collisions or malfunctions can occur. Migrating to a digital environment makes it easier and faster to fix any issues, and you avoid potential liability problems. In short, with virtual simulation, no one needs to worry about a chocolate river!?
Track Projects with Multidisciplinary BOMs
Multidisciplinary BOMs and configurations help engineers become more responsive to customized orders. Take machine builders and component system manufacturers – many in the SMB market, for example. These manufacturers need to track options, variants and integrating requirements, along with project and change management, while successfully managing the BOM throughout a product’s life.?Customer and engineering requirements, not to mention engineer responsibilities, must be traceable. This creates a journey from high-level customer requirements through the BOM structure and maps it onto tasks necessary for the deliverable’s completion. It prevents anything from being overlooked and enables sophisticated software to be integrated into every machine.?
Final Thoughts and Next Steps?
Like Willy Wonka, today’s manufacturers are at a crossroads, particularly SMBs. Yet unlike literature’s most famous chocolatier, they shouldn’t give away the factory! AME’s multidisciplinary design, digital threads and twins, and BOM configuration management help smaller manufacturers better compete globally, accommodate customization demand and bring products to market faster. And to paraphrase Mr. Wonka, don’t forget what happens to the SMB who gets everything they want – they live happily ever after!
Read more about the digital thread and Advanced Machine Engineering.
References :