What's the New Era of Manufacturing ?

In today's extremely competitive Scenario, manufacturers are looking for greater proficiency and cost savings in the business applications and processes, using new technologies. And there is no doubt about it since, the time of renaissance, there has been significant developments and findings that have changed the face of manufacturing processes and greatly impacted the efficiency and productivity. The industry has seen the transformation from the usage of water and steam to electricity to the currently used electronic gadgets and integrated IT systems that are driving the automation at a jet speed in the industries reducing the need of human error.

Today we are at the dawn of a new Era ‘Industry 4.0 ‘an epoch where sensor technology and the interconnectivity of the machines –IoT– is driving the industry forward.

While manufacturers are in agreement that industry 4.0 will bring several paybacks, the major challenge would be data handling and management. It is something that the manufacturing community has never dealt with before and there will be a range of data in enormous volumes that would be generated by the numerous sensors fitted at various points on a production line.

Here are four areas that Manufacturers should keep in mind order to meet Industry 4.0 Objectives :

1.   ·        Generating data: Today’s manufacturers have more resources for data capture and tracking than ever before. The overabundance of data can be intimidating and cause manufacturers to struggle to understand how to harness the power of this data. Data can come from many sources ( external or internal) or can be generated from Machines. Together, these sources can provide manufacturers with the data and statistics that they need about their clients, their own products, processes, people, and equipment. My interest to talk upon at this moment would be on Smart sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT) which can now gather data directly from machines, and send it on to an ERP system, and other enterprise applications. Built-in, low-cost sensors can sense an extensive range of parameters, including location, weight, temperature, vibration, flow rate, humidity, and balance. These environments can then be supervised in order to classify and forecast performance subjects that require service, repair, or replacement. This allows manufacturers to get prompt warning of imminent concerns, and hence arbitrate before there’s a disastrous breakdown. Machine data provides valuable insights about how equipment functions in user’s shop floor. Detailed product lifecycle analysis can point engineers and IT to future design improvements and performance enhancements. This data also gives manufacturers the aptitude to predict junctures to sell replacements and upgrades. Predicting future needs can also help with sales forecasting and inventory management.

2.   ·        Transferring Data: In manufacturing Surroundings, data is generally generated in geographically distributed and discrete production sites, in OEM equipment in remote locations, and sometimes even in handsets. As data transfer is expensive, manufacturers need a strategy, so it can be decided as to what kind of data needs to be transferred and when.

3.   ·        Storing Data : A huge amount of data is acquired , not all of which is useful .Manufacturers need to make decisions on suitable storage technology and also decide which data is needed when , where and how, as the cost of the storage is affected by these factors.

4.   ·        Getting Insights from data: Today, predictive analytics has become a valuable science and tool for manufacturers. It turns data collected from many sources into a roadmap for future actions. The Intelligent solutions and Business Strategic managers now have the ability to scheme trends with a high degree of precision. We must not forget that the output is only as good as the input. Manufacturers must take care to choose dependable data sources and to last to refine which influencing factors provide the best indications for future activities. Anticipating customer trends also provides a much-needed competitive edge, allowing the timely manufacturer to be first to market with a product invention or first to introduce an advance concept to an emerging niche market.

For Industry 4.0 project to be successful, engineers and IT professionals need to work together. IT has to be prepared to go much deeper in forging new partnerships with their engineering counterparts, while respecting the established processes. This will serve as a great platform and opportunity for IT and Engineers to work together to deliver the Industry 4.0 vision.

From an India perspective , Indian manufacturing sector is starting to realize the importance of data and analytics , there is a great deal of priority being given to start capturing new data across processes and argument where it was already being done with relevant updates. Some organizations are even starting to see investments in data and analytics not as an IT project but more business improvement opportunities in order to be locally and globally competitive. We must not forget that Companies that are early arrivers often maintain valuable ownership of the market.