Expert Guides
Can SME Manufacturers benefit from Industry 4.0?
Is Industry 4.0 the domain of the big manufacturing corporates or can SME’s leverage real competitive advantage from digital transformation?
Lean Manufacturing
In the corporate world of manufacturing Industry 4.0 sees integration of disparate IT systems and technologies delivering the digitisation of entire value chains. However, Wrekin Sheet Metal saw Industry 4.0 transition as an opportunity to digitise certain areas of their operation to support core organisational strategies. One of these was to create a lean digitised manufacturing process that would create a set of unique and valuable competitive advantage from improving environmental impact to predicting when to order raw materials and ensuring orders were delivered to time and budget.
From raw materials to finished goods we track production.
The Journey
In the corporate world of manufacturing Industry 4.0 sees integration of disparate IT systems and technologies delivering the digitisation of entire value chains. However, Wrekin Sheet Metal saw Industry 4.0 transition as an opportunity to digitise certain areas of their operation to support core organisational strategies. One of these was to create a lean digitised manufacturing process that would create a set of unique and valuable competitive advantage from improving environmental impact to predicting when to order raw materials and ensuring orders were delivered to time and budget.
Transition requires initial foresight and an innovative outlook. “Our board is progressive, so introducing Industry 4.0 as a cornerstone of the strategic plan for success may not have been as arduous as those who are working in companies with a more traditional outlook. While the transition aligned with our future strategic roadmap, we also needed to be clear how the digitalisation process would safeguard economic, social and environmental sustainability. Practical issues including staffing and data cyber security all need to be addressed,” explains John.
Wrekin Sheet Metal’s transition to Industry 4.0 has been smooth as they saw the process as a journey rather than a destination. Their journey continues using big data to drive continued excellence and enhancing efficiencies.
Disruptive
Industry 4.0 transition has revolutionised the manufacturing process at Wrekin Sheet Metal creating an environment that is both adaptive and customer centric. It informs new business models that make the company truly disruptive in the market place. Their transformation has bridged the gap between high level information technology and floor level operational technology. This brings intelligent data insights that powers innovative adaptability across their factory.
They can control materials flow automatically to eliminate downtime and operate at the lowest level of inventory possible. They are also able to adapt line conditions, down conditions, material supply, and other variables automatically.
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Predicting The Future
Wrekin Sheet Metal’s experience of adopting Industry 4.0 has been transformational. It has informed reduction of operation costs and increases in efficiencies that would not have been possible without the big data their system provides. SMEs across manufacturing can gain significant competitive advantage adopting Industry 4.0. This should not be viewed as the corporate domain. SMEs should look at Industry 4.0 and begin to embrace the data it can bring. Effective analysis of the data and prudent management decisions are all part of the process. An innovative management team that drive Industry 4.0 culture through the organisation is as important as the technology.
Wrekin Sheet Metal are already predicting where this can take their industry in the future. While the data being collected is descriptive telling them what is happening on the shop floor they are managing it to provide diagnostic information about their plant to inform prescriptive measures.
However they increasingly are using their information dashboards to gain predictive insight and make future investment to enhance their business models and competitive advantage further. Connecting big data and machine learning analytics is set to deliver intelligent data round the clock providing constant insight into current and future operational performance, driving progress, quality, compliance, and innovation.
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