Today, in the wake of growth, we find ourselves faced with increasingly evolved, interconnected processes that give an extra edge to supply chains by making them more capable of turning the wheels smoothly. The data-driven model thus takes over the world of production, which embraces new logics, new ways of living and working in the company. And it is in this context that smart manufacturing is born and developed, a true revolution for the times and ways of production, which model brings to the factory technologies and strategies that fall under Industry 4.0 in order to make products, processes and people optimal. How to do this? Certainly by changing perspective, leveraging digital to work on new levels of integration and relationships with the customer always at the center of development. But let’s go into more detail by discovering together the world of smart manufacturing.
Smart manufacturing: what it is and how it works
Have faith in progress, which is always right, even when it is wrong, because it is movement, life, struggle, hope.(Filippo Tommaso Marinetti)
Progress in the manufacturing industry brings with it changes that smack of innovation and information centrality, all enabled by technologies. Because it is not enough to think about customers and their needs. Communicating in a so-called smart company today are all assets. From materials to the means that transport them, from facilities to data-driven decision-making processes, everything flows into a unicum that can make the company successful. In this particular context, the role of CRM is precisely to make pre- and post-sales services more functional for the customer, enabling optimization of time, cost and results. In fact, one of the greatest benefits of smart manufacturing, is smarter management of products, processes and people so as to enable maximum information transparency and new ways of working under the banner of cooperation and collaboration. From an application perspective, cloud management then ensures performance but also the timeliness and quality of updates, while cybersecurity is optimally manned by the provider. Added to this is a third benefit: data governance enabled by cloud platforms that allow all teams to cooperate and share projects, processes, information and analysis. But what, then, are the characteristics of a smart factory?
Smart manufacturing: the characteristics of a smart factory
We assume that a smart factory uses a holistic approach in which the areas of marketing & sales, customer support, and IT stand out. This is where CRM becomes the real business driver. The “customer at the center” assumption then translates into new ways of adding value to the customer in terms of listening and service in order to decline a truly personalized offer. This is why smart manufacturing is also synonymous with servitization: a service-centric model that integrates the complex ecosystem of players in the Supply Chain to make them work harmoniously to maximum customer satisfaction and consequent customer loyalty.
Smart manufacturing: the evolution of increasingly data-driven manufacturing
The manufacturing sector compared to other sectors has been the slowest sector so far in adopting solutions that were data-driven. Outdated plants, constrained to rigid processes. This is the situation in this sector, which also has difficulty in providing clean, usable data. Despite this, evolution does not stop, fostering change, destabilizing for some, challenging for others, necessary for all.
Smart manufacturing: some tech trends and concrete use cases
At this stage when the present is increasingly looking toward the future, leaving the past behind, experts bring to light smart manufacturing trends based on technological advances that are part of increasingly established development paths such as Artificial Intelligence in all its forms. In particular, the use of innovative data-driven technologies for manufacturing offers several application advantages. Let’s discover them together!
Smart manufacturing: machine vision and quality control
Among its growing uses, machine vision is becoming very popular for automating operations at the inspection or quality control level. Machine vision, or machine vision, refers to automatic recognition techniques integrated into the smart factory. The approach relies on a combination of sensors and algorithms that can detect, analyze and interpret images to support one or more decision-making systems, either automated or assisting human operators.
Smart manufacturing: the importance of maintenance
Being able to predict and doing so with the right attention and tools is no small plus when it comes to the manufacturing-related production system. Artificial Intelligence, by analyzing the data produced by monitoring sensors distributed in plants, applies predictive models that make it possible to establish in advance the probability of anomalies and shutdowns. In this way, it is possible to ensure the operational continuity of production as well as the safety of plants and operators.
Smart manufacturing: smarter productivity management
Productivity management comes through artificial intelligence, including for the manufacturing sector. AI capable of getting production and distribution under control helps the manufacturing sector to have enough inventory for more agile and flexible management. Artificial Intelligence, moreover, is also used in smart manufacturing to analyze production process data and identify possible bottlenecks.
Smart manufacturing: simulations based on the Digital Twins
At the design stage, instead of making expensive and laborious physical prototypes, the ability to create and experiment on their digital equivalents in a virtual environment optimizes the time and manner of development, ushering in new ways of co-creation and collaboration among the various lines of business involved in finalizing products and associated services. Digital Twins, in fact, are the latest frontier of the most advanced smart manufacturing. Using the accurate digital twin of a product, infrastructure, process, or critical equipment enables low-cost, infinite-capacity modes of experimentation, allowing any kind of inconsistency to be tested, anticipated, and resolved so that it can go into production without surprises.
Smart manufacturing: IoT and Edge Computing
The combination of IoT (Internet of Things) networks, which connects physical systems and devices to the Internet, and Edge Computing, which refers to the processing of data close to where it is generated (connected and communicating sensors and devices) opens up a number of interesting opportunities to support the smart manufacturing.
Edge computing, specifically, enables modes of analysis and processing that enable real-time, more relevant and relevant decisions. Indeed, a distributed computing network is also more reliable and less prone to data loss and complete shutdowns. In smart manufacturing, in fact, the adoption of cloud-based solutions is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. From sensor monitoring to virtual maintenance and troubleshooting through IIoT(Industrial Internet of Things) and digital twin technology, the industrial world has shown that effective operations are possible even when staff are not present at the facility. This trend will only continue to grow as communication technology improves.
Conclusions
We have come to the conclusion of this article whose protagonist was smart manufacturing and its enlightening features for the growth of the manufacturing sector. What is clear is one thing and one thing only: smart manufacturing can help manufacturing companies become more resilient through new approaches and smart technologies. Improving visibility into costs, making processes more efficient, monitoring manufacturing performance and predicting maintenance errors, making better and faster decisions with AI, monitoring quality and leveraging best practices. These and more are the goals of every manufacturing company that aspires to success, the same goals that thanks to the smart factory are certainly easier to achieve today. Artmatics Partners, as an IT consulting firm with 20 years of experience, puts the customer and the change that inevitably shapes them at the center, seeing them as the symbol of transformation for constant growth that is always attentive to customer needs.
