What’s Smart Manufacturing?
Smart manufacturing is a complex system; which takes time to integrate into a pre-existing factory. This type of innovative manufacturing is a combination of several technologies and solutions which collectively implemented in a manufacturing ecosystem helps to improve processes and output and is therefore been termed ‘smart manufacturing’. In smart manufacturing, we call this unique combination of technologies ‘enablers’, which help in cut costs and streamline the manufacturing processes.
Key enablers include:
- AI
- Blockchain
- Internet of things
- Robotics
- Key monitoring
- Cybersecurity
Companies are continuously investing and exploring ways to obtain advantages through the use of these key enablers. If we investigate enablers, then we’ll observe that they create data, accept data and even have the ability to learn from complex data sets to improve operations. Enablers analyzing data in this way supports the production and manufacturing process through transparency, adaptability with the added bonus of cost savings.
Core Benefits of Smart Manufacturing?
Smart manufacturing relies on a key 3PL WMS (warehouse management) system and provides several benefits, to operator including more efficient workflows, higher productivity, and key cost savings. In a smart factory, technology allows for productivity to continues to be enhanced over long term use.
If one of the machines operating in a smart factory slows down, functioning artificial intelligence systems will be able to address the problem and find a solution to the situation immediately without human interference or intervention. These systems allow operators peace of mind, as machines can be fixed on the fly and won’t need to involve costly manual labor.
Beyond assisting slow machines, AI technology will also be able to point out issues before they happen by taking into account surrounding conditions that humans may be unable to detect, this time of predictive technology helps companies make use of big data to ensure their operations continue to run smoothly before any issues even arise.
One challenge owners face when implementing smart technology into their factories is the upfront costs. Many companies aren’t able to afford the technology, particularly if they are only taking into account the short-term.
However, it’s clear that cost long term savings will outweigh the setup costs, therefore business owners should consider putting together a structured payment plan ensuring that these new technologies are becoming part of the factory ecosystem over time.
How SM Differs from Traditional Manufacturing Approaches
Traditional manufacturing-focused solely on the mass production of products, where mass machinery was running simultaneously. In a traditional manufacturing scenario if a machine wasn’t operational, it was losing money, therefore owners needed to ensure that machines were running at a constant.
Consequently, manufacturers were forced to machines running, all the while keeping costs low. This is called batch-and-queue processing – a mass-production technique where products are processed and moved to the next system, whether they are required to or not. This type of procedure helps to keeps costs down and products on the move.
This type of manufacturing isn’t effective for many reasons, including:
- A long machine set-up time means lost production time.
- The quality of the product suffers because if parts in a batch aren’t made correctly, no one will notice the issue until the next operation. This often means work has to be done again, which is expensive or ties up valuable resources.
Alternatively, mart manufacturing which combines intelligent systems can respond quickly to meet factory demands and the supply network without errors.
The goal of smart manufacturing is to optimize the manufacturing technology-centric approach that uses Internet supported machinery to monitor production.
