Udaya Shankar, vice-president and head, Internet of Things at Xchanging, talks about how companies should get on board to experience the digital journey |
Connecting factories is a complex process and involves connecting the old world of brick and mortar with the new digital world. Archaic processes need to be dismantled and reorganised to meet the requirements of the digital age. The manufacturing industry is still catching up to such big trends. The adoption of technology has been gradual and ambivalent in many cases.
Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) have been slow to spot and adopt these new age technologies to better production on the floor. Agreeing Shankar adds, “With the flat world, information sharing is essential to suppliers and customers across the globe. Increasingly, clients want information on the go and companies have to adopt new innovative methods if they are to meet their requirements.”
One of the methods to meet these requirements is to have an efficient supplychain. As part of the hyper connectivity,supply chain is becoming more efficient and transparent. Many companies are cutting off middleman or dealers and allowing the consumers to directly order from the factory. “For this to happen, the factory needs to have a completely connected process both to the internal and external world,” asserts Shankar.
The factory should have a control over its lead time from suppliers, quality and delivery processes. Once these are under control, factories can allow the customer to directly order and deliver it within the accepted time. This enables Just in Time concept of manufacturing all the way to the customer.
Another area that could be looked at is building automation solutions. To do this, a company has to first identify what technologies are suitable and cost effective. Shankar elucidates, “There are processes that are crucial to a company and the information vital for the business model. In such a case,an Internet of Things (IoT) solution can be adopted to connect every individual node in the manufacturing process.”
If the process is less critical, RFID tags or QR codes can be used to gather basic data. This is also a cost effective solution for smaller businesses. Seconding, Shankaravers, “It is the CTO’s imperative to firstly understand the budget constraints and troubleshooting required before adopting a major technological transformation.
One size does not fit all and that is the first lesson to learn with the concept of connected factories.”A lot of what can be connected on the floor can also be automated. Automation is the second step after identifying where and what kind of technology can be adopted. By automating a set of tasks, manufacturers can increase productivity and reduce costs. Shankar asserts that by adopting automation,a CTO has to focus on two important tasks – protecting a factory from cyber attacks and keeping energy consumptions in check. “While this might seem like a natural solution to the existing problem of manual work, sometimes, automation can work out to be counter productive in terms of cost effectiveness,” warns Shankar. Identifying ways to reduce energy and introduce greener ways is an important task before adopting automation tools.
The most vital part of connected factories is the insight it provides into supply chain management. This information is priceless for companies and can help optimising production and keeping wastage at minimal. “With the IoT, we have five main benefits including operational efficiencies, new business models for revenue,improving customer relationships; providing safety and security and high value asset tracking,” says Shankar.
“It also increases the visibility of each process and the key players, thereby improving the efficiency. Now managers can track outputs and gauge the efficacy of an asset and dispose non-performing assets,”Shankar further puts in.
The pulse of a truly connected factory is measured by how it can be controlled remotely from anywhere across the world and also ensuring that the information produced from these connected devices and machines are used to streamline operations, maximise efficiency and reduce costs.
Transmitting information and troubleshooting software are all being done in minor ways. “The aim is to scale these operations and introduce smarter technology. Isolation is not an option in this connected world. Factories have to be part of the larger ecosystem to improve the overall efficiencies and to build new business models,”avows Shankar on a concluding note.