What is Smart Manufacturing? How It Benefits Manufacturers? — AIMDek

In the previous series of this blog, we have mapped how the manufacturing industry has grown from Industrial Revolution 1.0 to Industrial Revolution 4.0.

From our deep discussion, it was evident that the current Industrial Revolution is all about smart manufacturing and smart technologies, such as IoT, AI, Big Data, etc.

If you want to read the first article of this series, here’s the link.

In this post, we will explore the benefits of smart manufacturing, and how some technologies help us move towards smart manufacturing.

There are several reasons for moving towards this step:

• Identifying challenges and process inefficiencies.
• Streamlining business processes.
• Understanding equipment effectiveness and business efficiency.

Let’s understand how this is achievable:

Benefits Of Smart Manufacturing

From the use of cloud technology to securely access data on a network, the entire supply chain management in the manufacturing industry has evolved. Check how it is beneficial.

1. Enhanced Productivity

Even with some challenges, smart manufacturing paves a way for better data access. Throughout the entire supply chain management, you can access real-time data updated by logistics and other nodes. You can easily manage your orders accordingly, decrease waste, reduce time to market, and eliminate downtime as well.

2. Advanced Maintenance and Monitoring

For advanced maintenance and monitoring, Industry 4.0 has given us Salesforce for manufacturing. The CRM solutions by Salesforce help your business evolve and streamline every manufacturing process. From production to delivery, you can optimize your supply chain management.

Salesforce CRM solution modernizes your manufacturing processes, tracks your business deliveries, and helps you scale your production cycles with data-driven insights. Through this tool, you can even judge the product quality and reduce the circulation of defective products. This is possible due to AI analytics of the tool that helps us know the customer, their requirements, product features, its best version, etc.

This tool also helps you reach the right leads and market your products to the right customers in the right way. This is to say, that through the data-driven insights and sales pipeline created by Salesforce CRM, you can know the exact status of your leads, judge their requirements, and close a deal in less time.

It is truly your ticket to high revenue.

3. Better Working Prospects

For the manufacturing industry, Industry 4.0 offers them the support to ideate, manufacture, and launch a project with a small workforce as well. With technology, we have better working prospects. There’s the feasibility of data access, less wastage, and improved process management. As a result, we can innovate quickly and launch to market with a small workforce too.

4. Improved Sustainability

If there’s one thing that industry 4.0 has given us for future efficiency, then it is predictive maintenance. We now have manufacturing equipment for which we can predict maintenance cycles. We can predict the quality issues, downtime, and condition of the machine. Through sensors and other monitoring devices, we are able to know and eliminate major downtimes and breakdowns.

5. Operational Equipment Efficiency

If you look at it, then process control systems and equipment monitoring technology helps us improve operational equipment efficiency. This is because we can fix the machine before it breaks down and service and maintain it at the right time. This allows machines to offer high-quality, energy-efficient throughput.

Why Should Manufacturers Invest In Smart Manufacturing?

Industries have now come so far from where the manufacturing processes originally started. From completely manual functioning to process automation, budget optimization, and technology-based innovation, there’s so much that the industrial revolution has offered us.

Have a look at why you should consider investing in smart manufacturing:

• Smart manufacturing is a method to put your customers first. Using IoT devices, AI analytics, and other technologies, you can put your customers first.
• Smart manufacturing processes are trained to collect data at every touchpoint. This allows predictive maintenance and ensures thinking ahead .
• Since technology helps us predict machine situations and other processes, there’s less wastage. We move towards accuracy and efficiency too quickly.

Solutions For Smart Manufacturing

Here are some smart manufacturing solutions that help you realize all the above-discussed benefits:

1. Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing is through 3D printers that bring new horizons to the manufacturing industry. AM is used for rapid prototyping, quick customizations, on-side manufacturing, and quick spare part manufacturing. This additive manufacturing saves us so much time and costs spent in production and tool replacements.

This technology also helps us aid reverse engineering by quick reproduction, reconfiguration, and validation.

With the help of virtual reality, we can view computer-generated visuals simulated according to real-world activities. These are usually wearable devices containing audio, video, and positioning systems that help improve the experience of the user.

VR is being utilized in the industry for some time now. it allows training engineers for complex virtual processes, maintenance systems, and troubleshooting systems.

Further, since you can visualize the product with the help of VR, the cost of prototyping is greatly optimized.

Not only IoT is disrupting the manufacturing market but also helping build smart homes. If you look at it, then we all use IoT in some or the other forms. For example, our smart home devices, sensors, monitoring systems, etc.

The ability to make things interact also allows predictive maintenance, production planning, and fault localization. It ensures better interaction between humans and machines. IoT enables us to better control our resources, materials, and tools.

With smart manufacturing spreading across the globe, cyber threats are also increasing. For this, smart manufacturing technologies also help us streamline cyberthreats.

For instance, AI-powered bots monitor your systems all the time. This allows ensuring the security of your data and processes being used online.

Another example is using Salesforce for Manufacturing for sales and marketing operations. It helps you manage your sales pipeline and keeps your data secure on the cloud.

When you store data on the Google Cloud, do you need to worry about how the data is stored? How it is being used? Whether it is used by a malicious hacker?

No, we don’t think about all these things. This is because the cloud offers a simpler medium to store so much data seamlessly.

For example, Salesforce for Manufacturing. It allows storing data on the cloud instance. You can use the Sales Cloud to store your sales leads data. You only need to hire the right Salesforce consulting partner to implement Salesforce for Manufacturing for your business.

The ability to analyze and collect data from different sources, such as production units, customer feedback, request systems, etc. helps us understand so many things about our products and customers.

What do our customers want?

How we can offer an enhanced customer experience?

Which product is feasible for the future?

For instance, Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing helps you extract data from disparate sources and use it to ensure supply chain efficiency. Find the right Microsoft consulting services to ensure the efficiency of implementation — to unlock innovation!

7. Universal Integration

Universal integration is one of the best benefits of smart manufacturing. For instance, if you use Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing, you may be able to universally integrate your efforts across different domains and regions. Your team will get a dedicated medium for agile and driven working, which has access to several Microsoft services and seamless process execution.

Advanced simulations in the manufacturing industry mean the ability to create a mirror image of the physical world and virtually understand how a production model will function. These simulations can facilitate profit-loss analysis, cost estimation, bill of quantity preparation, etc.

Conclusion

Smart manufacturing is the new method of working for the manufacturing industry. Revolution 4.0 is driven by many technologies that are offered by different solutions in a varied manner. For example, Salesforce for Manufacturing empowers your sales and marketing teams, and Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing gives an integrated experience. Simply find the right Salesforce consulting partner or Microsoft consulting services to help you implement these solutions in the right manner.

AIMDek Technologies is one such consulting partner to several manufacturing firms. Through our experience in the field, we have already helped many businesses transform their functioning. To receive our Microsoft or Salesforce consulting services, connect with us now. Get a quote today!

Originally published at https://www.aimdek.com on November 29, 2021.