“I used to work extremely hard and didn’t really achieve a lot of tangible things. But when I started working extremely smart, the gates of abundant blessings opened up for me.”― Edmond Mbiaka
As the quote suggests, working hard doesn’t yield as much as working smart. The same thing goes for industries and working spaces. In the near future, hard-working factories won’t be able to compete with smart factories. The main reason being that they will not be able to match the efficiency, consistency, production growth, and low costs of smart factories.
Let us throw some light on why it’s time to change the existing setup to get the benefits of the new technologies.
What is a Smart Factory?
To understand what a smart factory is, we first must understand what IoT is. The Internet of things, commonly known as IoT, is the centerpiece of the 4.0 industrial revolution. It is the act of bringing the digital world into the physical world by allowing communication and data collection between objects.
Now, a smart factory is one that uses IoT, automation, and self-optimizin monitoring systems to improve manufacturing outcomes such as yield, throughput, life cycle, product quality, and machine operations in a highly digitalized environment. All Overall, switching to smart technologies saves manufacturers a lot of money, which can then be used to acquire more machinery or be otherwise invested to increase production.
Benefits
Smart factories enable the owners to have a structure where they can integrate the entire manufacturing supply chain. It is an amalgamation of production, IT, communications, and logistics, all connected using IoT or other s (Integrated Circuits).
Savings earned from a Smart Factory
Monitoring machines, correcting production problems quickly, reducing costs in machine maintenance, and increasing their life span will increase a manufacturer’s OEE, and bring steady savings. This extra monetary fund can be used to buy new machines to increase production capacity.
It is said that by 2025, there will be nearly 12.4% of compound growth in smart manufacturing factories. This data shows that if a manufacturer decides to digitalize their plant today, they will earn and save in huge numbers in the near future. This digitization will help them generate more production with the same old machines.
It will also increase the efficiency and consistency of products, which will ensure the clients are satisfied. It will then bring growth and profits, making them more competitive and advantageous.
We know that change is inevitable. We can either embrace the change in our favor or be stubborn and let it corrode us. Smart technologies will enable small and medium-scale factories to compete with large-scale industries. The increased ROI, OEE, real-time control of floor operations, and increased production will help smart factories be better than their competition. Thus, it is best to change with the changing times and grow the business, rather t get stuck with the same technology and be outdated.
It is better to think smart, act smart and succeed, than to be stubborn and fail.