Smart factories appear to be the obvious next step for the built environment industry, with highly automated manufacturing facilities that utilise advanced technologies such as IoT, AI and Big Data, up-smarting promising to optimise production processes, enhance efficiency and improve product quality. Mikko Urho, CEO, Visual Components, takes us through the three pillars of forming the factories of the future.
Digital transformation is a necessity in modern times. The market, valued at US$367 billion in 2024, is set to reach US$876 billion by 2026, with a CAGR of 19.40% over the five-year forecast period. Those who fail to invest sufficiently in their transformation plans will be left behind as ambitious rivals leave a wave of innovation in their wake. But while the hype around digital transformation is almost inescapable, few organisations have been able to scale their smart factories of the future.
In fact, research by Visual Components shows that only 3% of organisations in the US have fully adopted Industry 5.0 practices, which sees humans working alongside advanced technology, a key pre-requisite for smarter manufacturing. To move ahead with digital transformation on the factory floor, manufacturers must meet requirements across three pillars: human-centricity, customer-centricity and business resilience/longevity.
The human-centric pillar
The human-centric pillar places people at the heart of manufacturing innovation, and the responsibility lies with decision-makers to implement the appropriate technology to support this focus. For example, collaborative robots (Cobots) are now capable of completing a range of different functions that were previously the sole responsibility of staff. This includes sanding, polishing, screwing and palletising.
As a specific example, the same force needs to be consistently applied to a product to ensure a consistency in quality across each item. Cobots are the key to repeatable, quick and accurate processes, with humans often unable to achieve the same consistency over the same period of time and across numerous products. Cobots are also flexible and space saving, so workers on the factory floor can safely work alongside them. Being smaller and lighter, they’re also cheaper to deploy.
To apply cobots to tasks, automated programming via robot offline programming (OLP) offers manufacturers the opportunity to create a highly accurate digital replica of the cobot and its work cell. Movements and associated workflows are fully reproduced. Staff can program the cobot concurrently alongside its deployment, ensuring its automated capabilities can be put to task straight away. Cobots and OLP can come together to support humans by streamlining their working day and giving them the opportunity to focus on higher-value tasks.
The customer-centric pillar
Smart factories of the future must be flexible, adaptable and able to continue production in the event of a machine breakdown. With time-to-market so critical for meeting customer expectations, manufacturers can deploy digital twins to simplify development, optimisation and commissioning processes.
Digital twins behave like the real environment and can give an accurate insight into the interrelationships between machines on the real factory floor. From here, manufacturers can make a number of optimisations. For example, they could create and test alternative production workflows in the virtual space that can then be deployed in the event of a machine picking up a fault.
End customers are likely to be dissatisfied with long lead times for delivery of ordered products. To ensure that manufactured products reach them in the shortest possible time, firms need to be looking at the gains they can make at the beginning of the product lifecycle. For example, digital twins enable manufacturers to identify opportunities for reconfiguring their layouts to optimise available floor space and devise the fastest path for robots to follow when transporting goods, parts and components around the factory. This can save precious seconds in the production process and bring items to customers in shorter lead times.
The business resilience pillar
As digital transformation strategies ramp up, manufacturers must build resilience to remain competitive. Cultivating a dynamic workforce that is resistive to the wider skills shortfall is a key part of this. Unfortunately for US manufacturers, every organisation in the survey by Visual Components reported a need to offer higher salaries to keep their best people.
However, the deployment of simulation technology, with simple and easy-to-understand plug-and-play components, leaves machine operators ideally placed to upskill and grow their capabilities at the business. With straightforward operating logic included in pre-defined components and reusable models, even novice users can run simulations and make adjustments as necessary. This lays the groundwork for career development and promotional opportunities for new hires.
With OLP, expertise on robot programming remains stored in the software. Organisations do not need to be concerned about their long-term viability being threatened by skilled employees retiring or leaving the business and taking their specialist knowledge with them.
Investing in each pillar
The future of smart factories hinges on the integration of human-centric, customer-centric and business resilience pillars. Embracing digital transformation is a necessity for staying competitive in a rapidly evolving market. By prioritising human-centric practices, manufacturers can harness the power of cobots to enhance productivity and consistency, allowing human workers to focus on higher-value tasks.
Customer-centric strategies, such as the deployment of digital twins, ensure flexibility and swift time-to-market, meeting the increasing demands for shorter lead times.
Lastly, building business resilience through simulation technology and ongoing upskilling of the workforce ensures that manufacturers can adapt to changes and maintain a competitive edge. As the industry moves forward, those who strategically invest in these three pillars will be best positioned to thrive in the era of smart manufacturing.