The Connected Factory—Efficiency and Innovation Redefined
Approaching challenges from the perspective of your ideal operating environment can allow you to think without constraint. You may even find yourself using the term ‘in a perfect world’ as you demonstrate how innovation can deliver the optimal performance your company strives to achieve.
The connected factory is a chapter from the ‘perfect world’ playbook. It is not a pie-in-the-sky concept; it is in regular functional use today as forward-thinking businesses embrace the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
In a connected factory, a network of equipment and machines are linked by technological devices to form a powerful system. This system continually monitors performance and acquires, exchanges and analyses data to allow for rapid decision making and a truly collaborative framework7. However, this is collaboration in the IIoT era; whereby your team can communicate with machines, which, in-turn immediately confer with other machines and equipment to deliver intelligent responses.
Real-time machine to machine communication opens the door to highly effective business practices. Predictive maintenance becomes highly optimized, assets are tracked by location, status and condition, and errors are immediately corrected. Downtime is then an all but forgotten term, while ‘perfect’ makes its way into the manufacturing lexicon; facilitating for Made to Order, Configure to Order and Engineer to Order manufacturing to be undertaken confidently. Inventory costs are therefore reduced as ultra-accurate insights drive automated just-in-time systems.
The manufacturers that fully embrace the opportunities presented by IIoT will extend their connectivity beyond internal systems and machines. They will integrate data from suppliers and customers to create a holistic view of their supply chain; providing a more complete story. Such extensive insight allows automation systems to evolve to the level of self-optimization.
Intelligent Machines—Significantly Transforming Manufacturing
With the right systems in place, the continual collection of data from all devices in the connected factory provide a depth of contextual insights to help form the complete story. With the complete story, business leaders are more accurately informed which fosters alignment and decisive action.
The right systems will also improve the capabilities within a connected business so devices can be enabled to apply what they have learned and automate tasks, helping to turn factories into smart factories. Therefore, not only do you have the complete story, but machines that use insights to continually improve productivity; a hallmark of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
Automation as a manufacturing concept is re-defined when viewed through an IIoT lens. Traditional, single function automation is not collaborative, nor is it agile. It performs static functions based on pre-defined rules. The type of automation that exists in a smart factory, however, self-optimizes. It learns, not only from other machines and devices in the same factory but from wider networks which could even include comparable production equipment on an international scale.
Imagine you have a back injury caused by a number of contributing factors over the last few years. Now imagine that your desk knew that your chair was positioned too low for optimal ergonomics and that your mattress identified that your pillow height was causing poor sleeping posture, and beyond just knowing, your chair and your pillow actively corrected these issues to avoid the injury even occurring. Your chair and your pillow worked in tandem, using data and proven methods from other similar cases to formulate a collaborative solution, optimized for your specific needs.
Through machine learning, manufacturing software can begin to predict outcomes with greater accuracy. Predictions can also be continually improved as new data allows the system to learn as it defines patterns and monitors outcomes. Network security, predictive maintenance and advanced analytics are just some of the areas where machine learning can deliver tremendous improvements.
Intelligent machines have the capacity to be the most disruptive force in manufacturing, significantly transforming roles that we once resolved to be fundamentally human territory. ‘Cobots’ is the term given to collaborative robots which work with humans to complete production tasks more efficiently. Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are used to move items safely throughout factories.
Advanced Analytics—Delivering Insights for What Lies Ahead
In years gone by, analytics and reporting have been a function of looking at the past to gain insight into what has occurred. Advanced analytics, however, is forward-looking; projecting what is ahead, allowing businesses to develop strategies more confidently.
It is worth noting that prior to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) era, many businesses had equipment connected to systems that collected data. However, this data was often stored in a siloed manner, or contained in incompatible systems. In other cases, data was merely retained in raw data format, which, until it is processed, organized and contextualized into information, offers essentially no value.
With IIoT, businesses can efficiently collect, create and analyses a depth and breadth of data in a manner that is tremendously effective at identifying opportunities and risks. Armed with the actionable insights that advanced analytics provides, business leaders can reduce costs, improve productivity, model the impacts of changes to operations, and seize growth.
For example, when various assets in a factory have a dependence on one another, downtime of a single piece of equipment can have a significant impact on productivity. With the right systems operating in a connected factory with intelligent machines, the close and continuous monitoring of each piece of equipment allows for preventative and predictive maintenance to be highly effective, resulting in dramatic reductions in both planned and unplanned downtime.
As discussed in our topic on The Connected Factory, predicting what is ahead, however, is not just a function for your internal environment. The leading manufacturers of the future will be those who integrate with their customer’s systems so they can meet their needs and solve their challenges, potentially before the customer even recognizes a problem or opportunity is arising. This level of service deepens your relationships making you a partner, not just a supplier. In an era of the connected worker and connected intelligent machines, this is imperative.
The Connected Worker—A Critical Component of Your IIoT Strategy
While the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) will see automation disrupt the nature of traditionally human-centered roles, people will still be a fundamentally important element in the success of your IIoT strategy.
Staffing requirements will become increasingly talent-driven, which calls for manufacturers to develop comprehensive employee value propositions which have a focus on continual training and development. It is likely, therefore, that the leading manufacturers of tomorrow, will have fewer employees, but a more specialized, connected and productive workforce.
In an IIoT era, technicians will be able to receive task allocations to their smart device about an impending machine breakdown. Corrective measures, real-time analytics and diagnostics can be visible through smart glasses allowing the technician to repair the asset efficiently. Should a technician face a particularly challenging task, they can connect with an off-site senior engineer who has visibility into what the technician is working on and can assist them to solve the problem. As the senior engineer outlines the necessary sequence of steps, the technician can use an LED laser pointer to clarify specific instructions, removing subjectivity and improving safety.
Scheduling field staff in service management roles can be automated to have the right technician at the right location, at the right time. When a technician completes a task, they can quickly and easily record new information about the site and the asset which serves to update knowledgebase materials and aid continuous improvement.
In emergencies, personalised directions to evacuation meeting points can be provided to workers, while real-time insights into risk factors of staff in different site areas can be provided to emergency service personnel.
The role of a connected worker will be increasingly focused on adding value, rather than the completion of repetitive tasks. It is likely that these workers will be enabled to exercise greater levels of discretion and judgement which can positively affect their job satisfaction and result in greater retention.
An empowered, knowledgeable, connected and loyal workforce is a valuable asset. When human resources optimise the processes which are driven by intelligent machines, the connected factory as a whole learns, adapts and improves. As a result, further advanced analytics are generated, which, in turn, creates new opportunities for refinement and optimisation by both the connected worker and the intelligent machine.
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Kontributor : Tjahjo Dirgantoro, CEO, PT Rajawali Adikarya