In a rapidly changing world, the manufacturing industry faces numerous challenges. To keep up with growing customer demands and competition, it is necessary to move away from traditional methods and outdated IT solutions. Let's see how we can create a manufacturing company of the future using available tools today.
What does digital transformation bring to manufacturing companies?
Digital transformation enables manufacturing companies to effectively address the critical challenges they face every day. By leveraging modern technological advancements such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications, cloud computing, advanced data analytics and reporting tools, or artificial intelligence, a manufacturing facility tailored to the 21st century can be created. Intelligent solutions in factories mean unprecedented opportunities for resource and cost optimization not available in the traditional model. A key factor in improving factory efficiency is real-time insight into the current situation on the production floor or in the warehouse. Applications such as our proprietary Production Panel collect data from the production floor in real-time. As a result, management has constant access to up-to-date information about the factory's situation. This allows for resource optimization and care for what is known as Overall Equipment Effectiveness. How? By using machine learning and predictive analytics, it is easy to predict which machines will require maintenance in the near future and plan it so that downtime is as short as possible and has minimal impact on the plant's efficiency. Pre-scheduled maintenance work also helps avoid breakdowns, thus eliminating the source of most unplanned downtime. The fast flow of data and advanced methods of analysis and reporting facilitate work between teams. Better communication between all departments - from the production floor, through the warehouse, to the project team - improves overall efficiency and smooth operation of the entire enterprise. When IT systems are scattered and do not integrate with each other or - worse - when a company does not use new technologies at all, maintaining the appropriate performance is much more difficult.
The possibilities of smart factories
A manufacturing facility that has undergone digital transformation gains a range of new possibilities:
- Better collaboration between departments and teams. Thanks to access to the same always-up-to-date data, information exchange between departments is faster and seamless.
- Optimization of production monitoring. Collecting and analyzing data from production lines using sensors, business applications, and artificial intelligence helps gain quick insights into operations and identify optimization opportunities.
- Better maintenance and quality control. Applications and solutions based on artificial intelligence can be used to track materials inside the factory, automate complex quality control processes, and plan maintenance work.
