ICDL2019

Smart Industry Management

Automation has always been a part of the Industry to some degree, and even high levels of automation are nothing new. Through the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and increasing sophistication of cyber physical systems that can combine physical machines and business processes, automation increasingly includes complex optimization decisions that humans typically make.

The smart Industry is a flexible system that can self-optimize performance across a broader network, self-adapt to and learn from new conditions in real or near-real time, and autonomously run entire production processes. Smart factories can operate within the four walls of the Industry, but they can also connect to a global network of similar production systems and even to the digital supply network more broadly. It is important to note, that on-going evolution, a continuous journey toward building and maintaining a flexible learning system—rather than the “one and done” Industry modernization approach of the past.

The true power of the smart Industry lies in its ability to evolve and grow along with the changing needs of the organization—whether they be shifting customer demand, expansion into new markets, development of new products or services, more predictive and responsive approaches to operations and maintenance, incorporation of new processes or technologies, or near-real-time changes to production. Because of more powerful computing and analytical capabilities—along with broader ecosystems of smart, connected assets—smart factories can enable organizations to adapt to changes in ways that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to do so before.

Features of the smart Industry: What makes it different?

As many manufacturers grapple with the myriad organizational and ecosystem-wide changes exerting pressure on their operations, the smart Industry offers ways that can successfully address some of those issues.

i. The ability to adjust to and learn from data in real time can make the smart Industry more responsive, proactive, and predictive, and enables the organization to avoid operational downtime and other productivity challenges.

ii. The benefits of this automation included lower lead times for customers and lower overall costs, along with production capacity improvement of 25 percent and 50 percent fewer defective products.

iii. Some of its major features: connectivity, optimization, transparency, proactivity, and agility. Each of these features can play a role in enabling more informed decisions and can help organizations improve the production process.

It is important to note that no two smart factories will likely look the same, and manufacturers can prioritize the various areas and features most relevant to their specific needs. Perhaps the most important feature of the smart Industry, its connected nature, is also one of its most crucial sources of value. Smart factories require the underlying processes and materials to be connected to generate the data necessary to make real-time decisions.

In a truly smart Industry, assets are fitted with smart sensors so systems can continuously pull data sets from both new and traditional sources, ensuring data are constantly updated and reflect current conditions.

• Integration of data from operations and business systems, as well as from suppliers and customers, enables a holistic view of upstream and downstream supply chain processes, driving greater overall supply network efficiency.
• An optimized smart Industry allows operations to be executed with minimal manual intervention and high reliability. The automated workflows, synchronization of assets, improved tracking and scheduling, and optimized energy consumption inherent in the smart Industry can increase yield, uptime, and quality, as well as reduce costs and waste.
• Data captured are transparent: Real-time data visualizations can transform data captured from processes and fielded or still-in-production products and convert them into actionable insights, either for humans or autonomous decision making. A transparent network can enable greater visibility across the facility and ensure that the organization can make more accurate decisions by providing tools such as role-based views, real-time alerts and notifications, and real-time tracking and monitoring.

The Smart Industry: Why Now?

While automation and controls have existed for decades, the fully smart Industry has only recently gained traction as a viable pursuit for manufacturers. Five overarching trends seem to be accelerating the drive toward smart factories:

• Rapidly evolving technological capabilities.
• Increased supply chain complexity and global fragmentation of production and demand
• Growing competitive pressures from unexpected sources
• Organizational realignments resulting from the marriage of IT and OT
• On-going talent challenges

Until recently, the realization of the smart Industry remained elusive due to limitations in digital technology capabilities, as well as prohibitive computing, storage, and bandwidth costs. Such obstacles, however, have diminished dramatically in recent years, making it possible to do more with less cost across a broader network. Further, the capabilities of technologies themselves have grown more sophisticated: AI, cognitive computing, and machine learning have enabled systems to interpret, adjust to, and learn from the data gathered from connected machines.

Smart Industry will leverage industrial equipment that communicates with users and with other machines, automated process, and mechanisms to facilitat real-time communication between the factory and the market to support dynamic adaptaion and maximize efficiency.