Ms. Sujata Tilak, MD - Ascent Intellimation Pvt. Ltd.
08 May 2017
Smart Manufacturing (referred also as Industry 4.0 based on German Govt. program) is a journey. It is a journey which starts from the top in any organization and has to percolate to the bottom for ensuring success. I interact with several CxOs on this topic. These discussions always focus on “why” of smart manufacturing. I also interact with operational leaders and they focus more on “how”. Both are important.
IIoT, big data, cloud, digital twin etc. are all concepts / technologies used in this journey. But this journey is undertaken by companies those are into discrete manufacturing to achieve some specific strategic goals and business objectives. Any smart manufacturing / industry 4.0 project must not lose business focus and drive every activity within the project to achieve these goals. But it is not uncommon to find technology overtaking the business objectives.
In this series of articles, I would like to discuss both “why” and “how” aspects of Smart Manufacturing and establish the vital link between business goals and smart manufacturing solution areas. As we go along some more areas will come up based on feedback received from readers as well as my continued interactions with manufacturing companies.
Strategic goals spell out ‘why’ of smart manufacturing. Common high level strategic goals are
To increase competitiveness
To optimize/ maximize utilization of available resources
To become more agile and flexible to changing needs
To achieve faster time to market
Openness and transparency on shop floor
To increase safety and environmental compliance
Ultimately, to satisfy all the stakeholders of the organization (internal/ external such as investors, promoters, employees, suppliers and customers)
Smart manufacturing alone does not fulfil these goals, but it definitely contributes significantly in the fulfilment. Each of these high level goals translates into one or more operational goals which further translate into tactical actions. It is the vision of the management to improvise its processes
Operational goals also spell out ‘why’ of smart manufacturing. These are generally measurable and time bound goals. Multiple operational goals contribute to fulfilment of strategic goals. Some examples of operational goals are
Reduce unplanned downtime
Improve performance
Improve quality
Improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
Reduce raw material inventory
Reduce finished goods inventory
Reduce product changeover time
Reduce scrap
Reduce energy consumption
In the next article we will examine ‘how’ operational goals are converted to tactical actions and ‘how’ smart manufacturing helps in this journey.
