Digital Transformation in Manufacturing

With the ever-evolving consumer demands and expectations the chance to alter products according to customer feedback can give an edge to a manufacturer. Taking into account the wide range of innovative technologies today's market offers, it's much easier to make last-minute changes to the production cycles. The process of transforming your business digitally resolves a range of operational issues, allowing manufacturers to improve quality control, boost operational efficiency, and create a safer production environment. The implementation of modern technologies help to predict when a manufacturing machine is about to fail or needs maintenance, moreover, they will gain access to asset performance data, be able to identify the elements that are delaying the speed of production cycle, and get insights that might be helpful in taking important production decisions.

Both personalization and customization require a lot of time to be provided but can be easily turned into increased ROI. Mass production was not an option to manufacture customized products, as the time and cost involved in creating customized products in different batches would skyrocket. With the involvement of technology, manufacturers have developed the ability to create personalized products based on demand at a competitive rate. Personalized, heavily customisable approach seems to be applicable even for lower-priced products, thus discarding the one-size-fits-all approach for low range products.

If shifting from manual/semi automated to a smart/autonomous operation you decide to opt for assets and products that can monitor their own performance, predict failures, as well as notify operators about the maintenance needs. The precise understanding of areas where the production process needs improvement can help the manufacturers to enhance the product and make it more tailored and relevant to the target customers.

Digital transformation in industrial manufacturing is the most straightforward method for an enterprise to bring in collaboration tools and platforms that provide employees with easy access to information that they need with the flexibility to access it from anywhere and from any device. For manufacturers it's also expected to win some real benefits by giving a bird's-eye view of the entire supply chain to the employees through improved CRM, ERP, and Customer Experience Mapping. Providing access to a common master data that can be updated in real-time throughmobile apps will give all the employees — working across different parts of the supply chain in various positions — one common truth, which will be up-to-date and reliable. Such a data-driven approach will allow employees to make informed decisions regarding products, assembly line, and the marketing strategy.

Converting traditional paper and manual processes by deploying automated, custom enterprise solutions allows to streamline process flow, access helpful analytics, improve decision-making capabilities, avoid costly rework and downtime, simplify performance monitoring, deliver to the market faster and provide detailed digital product representations, all while improving quality and reducing waste.

Digital transformation in manufacturing helps businesses gain better insight into supply chain issues, such as inventory levels, delivery status and demand cycles. This increased, insight-based visibility helps reduce unnecessary risk and costs related to things like excessive inventory.

First of all, advanced analytics empower business owners to collect and use more profound data. Digital manufacturing helps increase brand awareness, in turn helping businesses provide more customer-specific solutions.