Technological advancements brought innovations in several industrial fields. Hot trends such as artificial intelligence, big data, automation, internet-of-things, and robotics, are also revolutionizing the manufacturing sector. 

 

Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0, aka IIoT, Industry Internet of Things) is here to stay and the key elements include,

 

3. Additive manufacturing (digital manufacturing, 3D printing) for a transformative approach to industrial production that enables the creation of lighter stronger parts and systems.

 

The decline in the costs above has sparked an increased interest in the adoption of smart manufacturing by not only large but also medium-and-small size companies. Intelligent manufacturing benefits the factories with higher levels of adaptability, rapid design changes, flexible and technical workforce, and quick supply chain connectivity.

 

The benefits of smart manufacturing are the ability to proactively detect and respond to the event quickly, which improves quality, and yield and reduces the downtime and also leads to better over equipment effectiveness (OEE). In sales and marketing, it can enable your organization to understand markets and predict and adapt to customer preferences. The same methodologies also apply to supply chain management. Intelligent manufacturing can help with forecasting demand, optimizing inventory, and monitoring suppliers.

 

However, advancing your organization’s digital maturity takes more than just technology—it also requires aligning your people, processes, and assets. Scaled adoption of advanced technologies can reduce the impact of ordinary operations. Moreover, smart manufacturing opened a new window for fulfilling customer needs. Traditionally, manufacturing has been the domain of large organizations with resources to set up systems and machinery. With digital manufacturing, the door is open for far more small and medium-sized enterprises to be tailor-made manufacturers.

 

In the following days, we will discuss more digital/intelligent manufacturing solutions.