MANUFACTURING IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Like the Industrial Revolution impacted manufacturing, digital transformation is now responsible for changing the industry.
Industrial manufacturers are joining their counterparts from healthcare to finance, revamping facilities in order to adapt to demands of today’s digital world.
Digital transformation doesn’t just mean implement- ting enterprise software to do things better, faster and cheaper. It refers to a transformation of the business with technology, and manufacturing companies are using technology to move from mass production to customised and on-demand production – and it’s happening at a rapid pace.
Digital transformation doesn’t just mean implement- ting enterprise software to do things better, faster and cheaper. It refers to a transformation of the business with technology, and manufacturing companies are using technology to move from mass production to customised and on-demand production – and it’s happening at a rapid pace.
We find ourselves in midst of the fourth industrial revolution (or Industry 4.0), and at the center of industrial transformation is Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT is not only transforming the way manufacturers create products, but it also helps improve asset efficiency, production quality and factory productivity.
Modern Manufacturing challenges
Today, manufacturers face mounting pressure to keep up with competition and shifting customer de- mands regarding customized goods, rapid delivery and customer service levels.
Regardless of the industry vertical, manufacturing executives are under continuous pressure to imp- rove margins, improve quality, increase efficiency, and improve flexibility – all while transitioning to sustainable operations and ensuring worker health and safety.
Regardless of the industry vertical, manufacturing executives are under continuous pressure to imp- rove margins, improve quality, increase efficiency, and improve flexibility – all while transitioning to sustainable operations and ensuring worker health and safety.
Connectivity
During the last decades, most industries have developed and managed Operation Technology (OT) and Information technology (IT) as two different domains, maintaining separate technology stacks, protocols, standards, governance models and organizational units. While IT systems were designed to connect applications and share data, OT systems were designed as standalone entities and were originally not intended to be connected. Having segregated OT and IT environments is inherently inefficient and costly, and it can prevent OT organizations from taking advantage of new technologies, such as mobile communications or cloud-based services.
Visibility
Massive amounts of data are gene- rated by factory machines and sensors, operators, and manufacturing systems. However, that data is siloed, and it is a challenge to get all data into one place to get full end-to-end (e2e) visibility into processes. Since visibility forms the basis for all decisions, it is one of the most important prerequisites for increasing factory-wide efficiencies.
Productivity
Regardless of the organization, boosting productivity is essential to enhancing gross profits and maintaining competitiveness. Productivity on the shop-floor depends on a combination of efficient employees, machines and processes. Missing Data and lack of real-time visibility into processes affect the ability to make robust, da- ta-driven decisions, making process optimization nearly impossible. Only after successful process optimization can manufacturing become more efficient, empowering people and resources to be more productive.
The Mentatronic platform addresses the challenge of insufficient visibility and flexibility by enabling real-time digital bridge across all factory equipment, systems and people.
It bridges the gap between siloed data systems by adding a powerful solution that helps companies connect and control all machines and devices, stream and make sense of massive amounts of real-time and historical data, as well as implement predictive maintenance.
Most of our customers start within their four walls to provide real-time visibility to the shop floor. As visibility gains are achieved internally, it is natural to start thinking more strategically, looking at where visibility tools can impact performance beyond the four walls. Extending Mentatronic Smart Factory module into planning, production and logistics around the factory processes is the next step.
Since ERP systems contain information regarding inventory and customer demand, and MES control how to build it, combining data from the two systems helps increase operational efficiency and enables you to become more flexible and more responsive to customized and changing demands.
It bridges the gap between siloed data systems by adding a powerful solution that helps companies connect and control all machines and devices, stream and make sense of massive amounts of real-time and historical data, as well as implement predictive maintenance.
Most of our customers start within their four walls to provide real-time visibility to the shop floor. As visibility gains are achieved internally, it is natural to start thinking more strategically, looking at where visibility tools can impact performance beyond the four walls. Extending Mentatronic Smart Factory module into planning, production and logistics around the factory processes is the next step.
Since ERP systems contain information regarding inventory and customer demand, and MES control how to build it, combining data from the two systems helps increase operational efficiency and enables you to become more flexible and more responsive to customized and changing demands.
Gain visibility to your operations with webSCADA
This enables factory workers and management to make better, data-driven decisions that were not possible before, and ultimately increase operational efficiency. Specifically, mentatronic helps manufacturers to gain control of factory operations to make better decisions. Mentatronic connects virtually any machine, device and enterprise system across functional silos and harnesses streams of machine data for powerful analysis. The real-time factory data is visualized in an easy-to-understand web scada view that provides full visibility into all stages of operations, making it possible to respond faster and make better decisions.
In addition to the webSCADA view, our strength lies in our ability to provision working environment in less than a day and deliver a working prototype with live customer data within a few weeks.
Efficiency increased
at least 5-8%
at least 5-8%
Reduce downtime
in 5-10%
in 5-10%
Reduce costs 10-15%
This offers customers the opportunity to start evaluating the business value of the current prototype immediately, rather than waiting for a finished product. With this agile approach, we can save our customers’ money, time and resources and deliver a customised solution that helps our customers simplify operations and work smarter.
Improve quality, reduce downtime and predict needs
Historical data combined with continuous stream of real-time data help create a foundation for predictive analysis. With help of actionable insights from data analysis, manufacturers can adjust improve quality, prevent unplanned downtime and anticipate future needs.
Historical data combined with continuous stream of real-time data help create a foundation for predictive analysis. With help of actionable insights from data analysis, manufacturers can adjust improve quality, prevent unplanned downtime and anticipate future needs.
Increase plant efficiency and save costs
Un- like in traditional factories with siloed data, connected factory enables factory-wide process optimization, from inbound logistics and production to outbound shipments. Optimized processes translate into operational savings through reduced waste, downtime and labour costs.
Un- like in traditional factories with siloed data, connected factory enables factory-wide process optimization, from inbound logistics and production to outbound shipments. Optimized processes translate into operational savings through reduced waste, downtime and labour costs.
Identify and Determine your smart factory objectives
The decision on how to start or expand a smart fac- tory initiative should align with the specific needs of an organisation.
The reasons that companies embark or expand on the smart factory journey are often varied and cannot be easily generalised
However, undertaking a smart factory journey generally addresses such broad categories as:
- Improved visibility across manufacturing operations – Improved asset efficiency
- Reduced waste
- Improved quality
- Targeted cost savings
