To see the future of manufacturing, spend some time on YouTube. YouTube??? That’s right—because that’s the easiest place to find fascinating videos showcasing some of the exciting technologies that are re-writing the art of the possible.
‘Cobots’, for instance, designed to work closely alongside humans in a shared workspace—building complicated assemblies, perhaps, or performing heavy lifting. Or today’s generation of Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs), which are a far cry from the clunky beasts of the 1990s. Or additive manufacturing, creating components and even entire products, ‘on the fly’.
Then there’s a collection of information technologies, loosely bracketed under the Industry 4.0 banner: the Internet of Things, Big Data, and advanced analytics. Plus what’s being termed ‘SMAC’—a fusion of Social, Mobile, Analytics, and Cloud technologies.
Few, if any, of these technologies are new, but they are still failing to gain mainstream mass adoption.
But all of that is set to change, says Cathie Hall, managing director of ERP provider K3 Syspro. Quite simply, she says, the smart money is backing 2016 to be the tipping point—the year that mass adoption does begin to happen.
“I think we’ll look back and see 2016 as the year that the mood changed,” she says. “You can see it happening already, among the manufacturers who we talk to. There’s a sense that the time has come to stop watching from the sidelines, and actually get to grips with these technologies. So companies which have been thinking about it are now looking at pilot projects, and those with pilot projects are scaling up and incorporating them into day-to-day operations.”
Why the change in mood? What has brought about the tipping point? Hall isn’t totally sure, and is honest enough to say so. Different manufacturers, she says, will have different imperatives, and will be seeking different things. Despite that, she insists, it’s possible to pick out some broad trends: reduction in costs, improved integration, and an increase in strategic application, all lead to a positive return on investment for manufacturers.
To begin with, she points out, the cost of implementing these new technologies is rapidly falling: the absolute costs of robots, cloud computing, and additive manufacture has reduced, combined with the fact that consumption-based pricing is now so prevalent. Moreover, the cost of capital remains low, and is now starting to be much more available again.
The second factor, Hall adds, is that integration between these various technologies has never been easier—meaning that they can be deployed in an integrated fashion, building upon one another, to yield a higher return on investment.
“The more these “new” technologies talk to each other, the greater the number of possibilities,” Hall observes. “And with the integration technology that is now available, in products such as K3-DataSwitch, integration is now even easier.” Imagine a customer placing their order for a mass customised item via their smartphone, having that automatically sent through the sales module of the ERP system, and then going directly to a 3D printer on the shop floor. When the printer completes the product, a robot handles it, simultaneously updating the ERP system to generate the customer invoice and taking the product to the warehouse, where a ‘dark warehouse’ system loads the product onto the truck, and the customer then receiving an automatic notification that the item has been shipped.
Such a scenario is quite easily achievable for manufacturers now. And combining costs and integration together leads us to the strategic business case, Hall stresses.
“At a very high level, manufacturers can take a strategic look at their businesses, decide their priorities—cost down, say; or increases in output, quality or customer service levels—and then piece together a business case and technology strategy to deliver on those priorities. And with a strategic imperative, as opposed to a purely technology one, adoption too is easier: barriers that might otherwise be put in the way simply vanish.”
So what might such a strategy look like, once in place on the factory floor? While there are no hard and fast rules, emphasises Hall, the key thing is to re-imagine the art of the possible. Instead of asking, ‘What can we do?’, ask instead ‘What can’t we do?’, she urges.
With analytics, Big Data and social media monitoring, for instance, the marketing and R&D functions are better informed than ever, with complex algorithms and analytics running in the Cloud at very low cost. Sensors, embedded in the final product, can feed back to manufacturers, helping design teams understand how their products are really used, how they really perform, so that product improvements can be made. On the factory floor, products and capabilities inspired by that greater understanding then get built, with additive manufacturing and humans and cobots working together to affordably deliver—say—mass customisation. And with low-cost and effective integration, coupled to the Cloud, updating internal systems—or even the end customer—is straightforward.
Roll it altogether, she sums up, and 2016 should see the beginnings of a revolution in how manufacturing is carried out and consumed. Strategies such as disintermediation and servitization—both of which require a closer connection to the end customer—become far more attainable, for instance.
It’s no secret that the manufacturing sector is under pressure, as order books thin out, and output levels fall back, hit by a variety of factors ranging from struggling global economies to an oil price that has fallen by two-thirds in just eighteen months. But look towards the sectors that have consistently performed well—for example, automotive—and it’s no coincidence that these are also the sectors that have adopted these technologies early. Manufacturers need to look to these sectors or risk falling behind, says Hall.
“Taken together, these technologies change the nature of manufacturing,” she concludes. “It becomes more responsive, more strategic, and more aligned to the end customer’s actual requirements. It’s what manufacturers have actually yearned for, for years. And the revolution starts now, in 2016.”
