Smart Manufacturing: More Than a Buzz Phrase
Business challenges, Predictive Analytics, Supply chain optimization
Smart Manufacturing technology is more than just a buzz phrase about today’s technology and its role in the future of worldwide manufacturing. The term accurately describes the convergence of every component of manufacturing, particularly access and integration of all relevant data. The goal of Smart Manufacturing is to provide internal and external (competitive) intelligence, which is a critical driver of global marketplace success. Ideally, Smart Manufacturing’s promise is to deliver innovation that disrupts the marketplace with new insights and actionable steps that will lead to higher and more sustained growth rates, especially for companies that know how to use data to their advantage.
Smart Manufacturing represents an evolutionary approach that spells the end of a silo or process isolation mentality often displayed by plants in the same company that operate independently of each other. Instead, Smart Manufacturing fosters interconnected operations that lead to better run plants and less costly operations.
Equally important, Smart Manufacturing has proven to be an integral part of the global economy in which the most responsive and innovative solutions are likely to succeed. Manufacturers that implement this technology are likely to see the following results:
- Improvement of the bottom line by understanding costs thoroughly;
- Understanding the trends and possibilities of business growth by recognizing immediately the data that exists;
- Gain the competitive edge essential for success in the global marketplace.
Fundamental to all of these outcomes is acceptance of what should be considered an axiom for today’s and tomorrow’s businesses: systems utilizing intelligent data resources are “interdependent” on each other. That is the very core of Smart Manufacturing.
Nothing in the business environment can be taken for granted. Big Data leverages a comprehensive strategic and tactical execution of a company’s operations, and sound data security protocols are integral to the successful use of Smart Manufacturing technology. The future of every business may depend on it.
