Agility/Flexibility: Running the factory in tune with the market means linking what’s produced in the factory with what’s selling in the market. Being able to shift quickly from producing one product to another or increasing production of a fast-selling product can mean the difference between capitalizing on and missing a sales opportunity.
Speed: Every step from decision to delivery requires speed. Production information from all manufacturing plants must be visible on a real-time basis. Not having real-time information results in many slower, bad decisions.
Predictability: The ability to adjust production quickly to meet ongoing changes in demand must be predictable. Being able to say yes to a significant customer’s unexpected order requires the confidence that the factory can deliver.
Quality: Whatever the request, however quickly delivered, quality must be 100% perfect across the board.
Each of these factory characteristics must be managed with relative ease. Even if getting out an order requires flipping the factory upside down and backward, it must be handled as a just another part of doing business.
Beyond The Factory
Smart manufacturing technologies are also transforming other critical strategies and address other concerns that keep the C-suite up at night, including the following:
Speeding Innovation: New approaches to product development are now possible thanks to what’s become known as the “digital thread” where all information about a product is available to all decision makers throughout the product’s lifecycle, from design to delivery. Creating an intelligent infrastructure where design, manufacturing, automation and supply chain are seamlessly connected to each other and in sync with customer demand is the new prerequisite for delivering innovative products to the market quickly and efficiently. Smart manufacturing technologies enable seamless connection, which, in turn, improves a company’s ability to deliver innovation faster than the competition, capture market share and delight customers — all required for sustained market growth.
Reducing Risk: This intelligent infrastructure also reduces risk. It not only makes sure that quality products are built using quality processes, but they increase the predictability of revenue and cost, which are essential to achieving earnings targets. Smart manufacturing connects all areas of the enterprise from sales and demand planning to manufacturing and supply chain, providing visibility and accuracy for financial planning. It also allows company leaders to see more quickly and address risks associated with the global economic climate, demand trends and supply chain fluctuations or disruptions.
Meeting Standards and Regulations: Likewise, smart systems support business’ ability to meet standards and regulations effectively. The system should electronically gather and maintain all documentation for traceability and verification, replacing hard-to-manage paper documentation known as “travelers.”
Improving Leadership and Management
Most critical, smart manufacturing promises to improve leadership and management by streamlining communication throughout the organization. The visibility that corporate executives gain into the production process is an extension of management-by-walking-around (MBWA), an approach promoted as critical for leaders to understand front-line work better. With large companies, MBWA isn’t practical. In its place, the smart systems provide executives with dashboards of real-time factory information — along with programmed alerts that inform the executives of issues that require their immediate attention.
As smart manufacturing technologies mature, they will no doubt address other C-suite concerns. While it may seem that the technologies are the purview of factory leadership and not the C-suite, forward-thinking CEOs understand the business ramifications of this digital revolution.
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John Clemons (john.clemons@rockwellautomation.com) is a senior solutions consultant, LifecycleIQ™ Services at Rockwell Automation. He has been working in the field of manufacturing IT for more than 30 years.
