Key Technologies In Manufacturing

Successful manufacturers find ways to ensure that digital change leads to evolution, not disruption.  

Technology advances give businesses, governments and public sector institutions more possibilities to enhance their productivity, invent and reinvent offerings, and contribute to humanity’s well-being.

Just as manufacturing executives are ready to heave a sigh of relief at the state of post-pandemic recovery, recent global challenges have forced manufacturers to change their business models — seemingly overnight in some cases — to stay competitive and prepare for growth. Manufacturers must, therefore, pivot to address not only a snap-back in demand, but also significant disruption as digital technologies are driving pervasive change. Future factories may have sensors everywhere so that predictive maintenance becomes the norm. Big data in manufacturing will intersect with evolving analytics and digital simulations to drive automation and decision-making. New and innovative business models will rise rapidly.

Manufacturers have been exploring significant initiatives around IT/OT convergence, which is primarily the integration of OT assets like MES or SCADA that control physical processes with back-end software and hardware. These are the manufacturing ecosystem elements like ERP, business finance and PLM.

The greatest minds in manufacturing and technology have been swapping strategies, tips and tricks for enabling operational technology and information technology convergence for years. For most organizations, however, that “Aha!” moment has yet to materialize.

When IT and OT work together, companies can expect benefits such as:

• Faster time to market for new products
• Less siloed IT and OT environments where the departments work together using a shared set of standards and platform
• IoT devices enabling deep evaluation of critical resources and associated downtime
• Operational and development costs reduction
• Improved visibility and auditing thereby streamlining regulatory compliance

The manufacturing industry is constantly witnessing an increased digital disruption. Demand uncertainty and rapid changes in customer preferences are challenging planning systems to unprecedented degrees. Logistics disruptions are pushing businesses to find alternatives to globalized supply chains. Demand fluctuations are calling for dramatic operational and capital cost reduction in some areas and rapid growth in others. Remote work is forcing manufacturers to reconfigure manufacturing flows and management. Here, we will consider some of the key technologies that are shaping the future of manufacturing.

Internet of Things

The capabilities of the Internet of Things (IoT) are rapidly proliferating in the industrial and manufacturing industries, enabling plant managers to increase productivity and decrease process complexity. By 2025, the number of IoT-enabled devices is expected to reach 50 billion. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is an amalgamation of various technologies such as machine learning, big data, sensor data, cloud integration, and machine automation. These technologies are being employed in areas like predictive and proactive maintenance, quality management, real-time monitoring, resource optimization, supply-chain visibility, cross-facility operations analysis, and safety, enabling plant managers to minimize downtime and enhance process efficiency.

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