Manufacturers & Distributors ARTICLE -
The Future of Manufacturing = Smarter Factories

Target Audience: Manufacturers and Distributors, M&D Industry Professionals, Companies Considering a New Factory, Management Personnel, Strategic Decision Makers, Accounting & Consulting Firm Interest, Business Analyzers & Researchers, Financial, Information Technology Providers, Operational and Logistical Decision Makers

The future of manufacturing can be summed up in one word: intelligence. So say industry analysts who have looked into their crystal balls to determine what’s likely to await the factories of tomorrow. No, they don’t think you and your employees will be noticeably brighter 10 years from now. Instead, they think your factory will.

Smart machines, nanotechnology, wireless networks and process intelligence tools all are poised to create a manufacturing revolution that Industry Week has said could create "a watershed as great as Henry Ford’s epochal work with mass production."

Technology has always played a pivotal role in improving manufacturing techniques, but analysts say manufacturers are just now beginning to get a glimpse of technology’s true potential. Let’s take a closer look at how future technology may affect your company.

Automating the Automation in Manufacturing

Manufacturers increasingly rely on simulation software to help them design shop floor layouts and production paths without actually moving people and equipment. Business intelligence software helps managers analyze performance and eliminate roadblocks.

Technology developers are moving toward "automating the automation." Miniaturized machines that incorporate nanotechnology have 3D features measured in microns instead of millimeters. Wireless sensing networks allow devices such as gauges and sensors to communicate with each other and correct any deviations. And production machines that manufacture flawless parts using only a 3D computer-aided design model all are on the horizon.

Smart Machines for Manufacturers

As technology advances, factories are likely to see smart machines that can monitor and diagnose their own problems, know their own capabilities, recognize the best way to manufacture parts and evaluate the quality of their work.

These machines are not imminent, but other applications for artificial intelligence are. Real-time process control systems can detect faults and sound alarms now, for example; soon they will be able to analyze complex processes and suggest corrective actions for operators.

Artificial intelligence also will improve fault diagnosis and maintenance by monitoring and analyzing hundreds of sensors. Incorporating the expertise of your best maintenance personnel, your equipment’s maintenance and performance records, and information from equipment manuals, smart machines will be able to identify problems and determine probable causes 24 hours a day.

Business Intelligence Software

The next generation of business intelligence software will go beyond measuring sales and costs to give you a structured set of data that can measure results against key performance indicators to improve business processes based on established objectives.

This software will be collaborative as well as analytic, allowing users across an entire network to understand the thinking behind departmental decisions and to work together, using the same data, on companywide tasks such as planning and budgeting. It also will track daily or even hourly activity in such key areas as throughput or inventory, and break down operations by customer, product or resource.

Web-Enabled Technology for Manufacturing

Finally, look to the Internet to play an increasingly important role throughout all your manufacturing and business operations. Web-enabled machine tools, for example, will have their own Internet protocol addresses and complete communication capabilities.

Web-enabled machines will be remotely operated, integrated into the supply chain in countless innovative ways and connect production to management information systems — all in real time.

Technology is Key in Manufacturing

The future of manufacturing is notoriously difficult to predict — for example, an anticipated explosion in robotics has thus far failed to materialize. But industry analysts agree that whatever manufacturing’s future holds, technology will help make your factory more intelligent.

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