Major Growth Opportunities for Manufacturers

Phil Black - PII Editor 17/10/2014

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A new survey has revealed that outdated practices and poor visibility of real-time processes could be costing manufacturers £millions in waste, unscheduled downtime and missed opportunities to improve quality, productivity and profits.

The 2014 Smart Manufacturing Technologies Survey was commissioned by technology company Ubisense, with responses captured from 252 manufacturing engineers, product design and quality management professionals.

The findings revealed a manufacturing sector that is still largely dependent on personal observations and team decisions to monitor and manage key processes. Lack of visibility presents blind spots that make it difficult for manufacturers to identify the right fixes needed to improve productivity. The majority of respondents also said they have not yet adopted fully automated systems to optimise workflow efficiency and create a connected factory environment.

The respondents indicated that:

More than 80% rely on personal observation to drive process improvement
40% have no visibility into the real-time status of their manufacturing processes
Nearly 10% spend half their day looking for misplaced products and equipment
Almost 15% don’t use data or analytics to prioritise product repairs
85% of quality issues occur due to human factors
More than 50% claim to waste up to 10% of cycle time per product
Nearly 50% don’t match torque records to specific products.

Introducing location intelligence, networked sensors, wireless tags and powerful data analytics to production processes could resolve or eradicate many of these problems and, by transforming the factory environment, deliver multiple benefits. With real-time visibility of processes and machine-to-machine connectivity, manufacturers can prioritize improvements and repairs; proactively address issues before they become problems; and track quality metrics. This enables dramatic savings and improved productivity while raising quality and safety standards.

Computerisation of the manufacturing industry, also known as Industry 4.0, is transforming production. It involves a transition to intelligent networked systems that are capable of sophisticated real-time decision-making – so removing guesswork and uncertainty. Smart sensors capture critical data about changes in demand and production capacity, enabling machinery and processes to automatically adapt according to precise requirements.

Richard Green, Ubisense Chief Executive Officer, said: “Many manufacturers are paying a big price by delaying the addition of location intelligence to their production processes. The connected factory is not a distant dream. Ubisense technology is already making it happen for leading manufacturers worldwide. As these forward-looking companies have discovered, the Ubisense Smart Factory system delivers a dramatic return on investment and measureable competitive advantage. Put simply, it helps to drive value from visibility and turn data into gold-dust.”