Digital transformation in manufacturing industry: Scenarios, benefits and technologies

Digital transformation in manufacturing refers to integrating digital technologies into processes and products to enhance manufacturing efficiency and quality. After the COVID-19 pandemic, digital transformation has been implemented in almost every industry, and the manufacturing sector is no exception. According to the 2021 Digital Transformation Assessment study conducted by IBM and The Manufacturer, 68% of manufacturers have deployed digital projects after COVID-19. In this post, we will show you how digital technologies affect manufacturing with key technologies and trends.

Benefits of Digital Transformation in Manufacturing

Customer expectations and increased competition are the main advantages of digital transformation in manufacturing as with all industries. By applying digital technologies, manufacturers can boost speed and efficiency, improve production, reduce costs, and deliver a better customer experience. Here are the top reasons to deploy your industrial shop with digital manufacturing technology:

• Moving to the next level of traditional manual processes, cloud-based solutions will help improve decision-making capabilities, avoid costly rework and downtime, simplify performance monitoring, ​​identify weaknesses and bottlenecks, and so on. This way, your business can save a huge amount of time and money while also doing more effectively.
• Digital manufacturing can help you have better insight into issues, such as inventory levels, delivery status, and demand cycles. This will minimize unnecessary risks and costs related to problems like excessive inventory and material.
• Investing in the right digital technology, and software will equip your employees with unique, and improved skills.
• Digitized manufacturers can provide customers with attractive customization options. It also allows manufacturers to expand on a mass scale while maintaining high efficiency.
• Safety: Robots can work in dangerous environments. The manufacturing staff can be alerted about potential hazards well in advance.

What are the newest technologies and trends enabling digital transformation in manufacturing?

Manufacturing analytics

Manufacturing analytics offer insights about machines, processes, and operators, to predict machine future use and maintenance requirements, avoid failures and pitfalls, forecast business and inventory requirements, and identify areas for enhancement. These tools can be used to optimize:

• Demand forecasting
• Inventory management
• Order management
• Maintenance (predictive and preventive)
• Risk management
• Automation and robotics
• Transportation allocation
• Product progress measurement
• End-user experience estimation
• Price optimization

Digital Adoption Platform

There are a lot of things taking place in the backend, from solving inventory to procuring raw materials. These features could be complicated when the workflow is so high, especially when entering details within the procurement application. Manufacturers might solve a big problem which is how to conduct those works efficiently as well as assuring the accuracy and integrity of data. Hence, it is a great solution to train your staff while keeping them engaged and a digital adoption platform supports you with that and more.

IoT (Internet Of Things)

IoT is not something new but it is still trending in 2021 and it will continue for the next few years. Also, IoT is now globally deployed and businesses are realizing its important role. IoT supports you to connect different types of devices from anywhere via the internet to conduct tasks automatically and to make decisions in real time based on the data available at hand. Moreover, you can manage the supply chain, detect the quality of the parts, and the origin of any defect during production, assure the safety of the staff, and perform various other features with the support of IoT.

Industrial Robots

Production automation and smart robots are not something that companies are unfamiliar with, but being able to adjust to complex changing conditions, such as enhanced customer orders or lower machine performance in another part of the factory must be something that we never thought that the control systems and programming languages can solve. Moreover, with the support of robots in conjunction with AI and other emerging technologies, producers can take a critical step toward deploying into an intelligent factory. At this level, robots not only do tasks but also can engage in data collection, sharing, and analysis to work on fixing issues with humans. Additionally, collaboration robots, robots, will emerge to support humans to perform tasks in dangerous cases, thereby enabling a human to work safely and smarter at a distance.

Autonomous systems

Autonomous systems are systems that improve data about the surrounding environment from sensors in order to analyze real-time situations, adapt, and react without human intervention. Some autonomous systems in manufacturing are:

• Autonomous robots
• The autonomous warehouse and factory systems
• Autonomous vehicles
• Drones

Digital Twins

A digital twin can behave as a device’s real-life equivalent to gather data on the most effective solution to support manufacturers digitally replicating various scenarios. Manufacturers can also enhance the quality of products, design predictive maintenance, optimize production processes, and risk mitigation scenario planning by combining digital twins with IoT data and AI.

Agility And Responsiveness

One of the biggest benefits is that technology is making manufacturers focus on bolstering responsiveness and agility due to changing client demands and market conditions. This is very helpful to the manufacturing industry. Also, you can match production cycles and emerging product demand levels effectively. The more successfully an organization can combine those two essentials, the more agility you can pump into your operations.

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Furthermore, new technologies will be invented, and the existing ones will be innovated. Customers needs are increasing within the passing day and companies are competing with each other to satisfy the customer requirements. Also, the technologies will be of paramount importance. So, your manufacturing business needs to realize the long-term advantages of digital transformation and have great strategies in order to go digital successfully.

What are some case studies?

• Cisco developed a secure virtual MES (manufacturing execution system) platform to better orchestrate its global network of outsourced production plants. The platform contains IoT devices and big data analytics and helps Cisco trace supply chain quality in real time.
• With the support of IoT devices and cloud technology, food packaging company TetraPak can predict exactly when equipment demands maintenance. Also, it helps avert breakdowns that could cause spoilage of food products.
• Porsche has introduced customizable seats for its sports cars by using 3D printing technology and allows its customers to choose three levels of firmness: soft, medium, hard. Moreover, the company is planning to expand the extent of customization for their cars in the future.

Is Your Manufacturing Company Ready to Be Digitally Transformed?

Digital transformation isn’t only about reducing costs and improving efficiencies. Also, it’s about embracing an agile mindset and maximizing revenue through unique competitive benefits. If rethinking operating models, adopting new principles, and improving efficiencies are generating digital fatigue, contact our technical implementation service for Free Consultation. With in-depth knowledge and expertise, we help you shortcut your way into the world of IT and leverage your IT in your business environment effectively.