across the characteristics of smart factories, making the transition to smart factories, and how to get started with smart factories.
Characteristics of Smart Factories
- Collaboration: Smart factories enable real-time data collaboration among the suppliers and consumers. Collaboration among various departments such as design, merchandising, sampling, design-making, etc. will be easier.
- Optimization: Smart factories require minimal human interaction and offer highly automated production & material handling. Provides increased asset uptime and production efficiency.
- Transparency: Offers live metrics that support quick and consistent decision-making and transparency in customer order tracking.
- Proactive: In case of any supplier issues, smart factories identify them immediately and monitors real-time safety.
- Agile: The factory layouts and equipment are configurable. Implementing any product changes to analyze them in real-time is possible with Smart Factories.
Areas of consideration to switching to Smart Factories
While you want to make a transition to Smart Factories, you will have to consider a few areas like data & algorithms, technology, process & governance, people, and cybersecurity. Let’s dive deeper into each one of them to understand clearly:
Data & Algorithms
Data is an essential component of the smart factory. With the help of algorithmic analysis, data can drive all the processes, detect operational errors, give user feedbacks, and also helps to predict any inefficiencies or fluctuations in sourcing and demand. Data also helps in representing a digital twin of the garment. A digital twin provides a digital representation of the past and current behavior of the garment.
Technology
Smart factories require tools that can communicate with each other and with a central system. These control systems can take the form of a digital supply network stack. Along with this, organizations will require other technologies like enterprise resource planning systems, IoT and analytics platforms, and requirements for edge processing and cloud storage. Additionally, additive manufacturing, robotics, high-performance computing, AI and cognitive technologies, advanced materials, and augmented reality will also be required to connect assets and facilities.
Process & Governance
Smart factories have the special ability to self-optimize, self-adapt, and autonomously run production processes. An autonomous system has the capability to perform many tasks without any interference from human beings. It is also possible to shift the decision-making responsibilities from human to machine. Moreover, the connectivity of smart factories can extend to include increased integration with suppliers, customers, and other factories.
People
Although smart factories are automated and require minimal human intervention, people will still be the key to operations. While most of the processes might be replaced by robotics, process automation, AI, and AR/VR new unfamiliar roles may emerge. These changes may require people to manage processes that need an agile, adaptive change management plan.
Cybersecurity
As these factories are digitized, there is always a risk of cybersecurity. Cyberattacks are spreading widely these days and it may be more difficult to protect against them. Cybersecurity risks will grow only when the smart factories move beyond the four walls of the factory to include suppliers, customers, and other manufacturing facilities.
How to get started with smart factories?
There are a number of configurations of smart factory solutions which result in various pathways to begin the journey. Let’s explore the steps to get started with the smart factory journey:
Think big, Start small
While investing in smart factories, you need to identify specific opportunities. After identifying, you need to work through digitization and carry out insight generation fuel actions that can drive value. Manufacturers can get started with their smart factory journey at any level of their network. Value creation can begin with a single asset and an agile approach can be applicable to grow. Always begin small, test the concepts in a manageable environment, and scale the lessons that have been learned.
Customize the approach
A company’s manufacturing strategy will help you understand which are the issues you need to address and how can unlock value through smart factory solutions. It is always better to customize your approach to each scenario that can help you ensure the smart factory can fulfill all the requirements of the manufacturer.
It’s not just about the technology
A smart factory journey involves something more than technology. You as a manufacturer will require a way to store, manage, make sense of, and act upon the data gathered. Also, the company will require the right talent that can drive the journey and the processes in right place. Each smart factory journey will require transformation support in solution design, technology, and change management dimensions.
Think out of the box
The smart factory journey is a holistic one and it is necessary to combine what happens within the four walls with what happens across the entire digital supply network. Hence, to achieve a successful outcome, you need to consider the full array of supply chain partners and customers from scratch.
Final Word
In conclusion, a smart factory is a solution that involves various features such as agility, connectedness, and transparency. The dynamic nature of smart factories requires an endless amount of creative thinking. Investing in smart factory solutions will help manufacturers to function more effectively and efficiently in a complex and rapidly shifting ecosystem.