The Smart Factory: How Technology Is Making Production Faster And More Efficient

The future of manufacturing?
It’s bright, shiny and scary. The intelligent factory could lead to mass customisation, which lets customers specify precisely how they want an item made.
It’s a fast path to zero-defect production, allowing companies to quickly build surveys and tools like graphical mockups to solicit consumer feedback on new products they’d like to create.
The use of additive manufacturing also has the potential to make physical goods cheaper by cutting out waste associated with traditional production techniques.
Digital manufacturing
Digital manufacturing is an element of the Fourth Industrial Revolution; it means a new approach to manufacturing whereby all the machines and factories become digital, which allows for decentralised production. Furthermore, data is integrated with physical devices and people to build an intelligent manufacturing unit.
Just like the digital revolution has completely changed how we consume and interact with what we use daily, it is also fundamentally changing how we produce and create. Digital manufacturing takes production just as digital music takes traditional music, E-mails replace handwritten letters, and digital images replace analogue photographs.
For example, imagine a decentralised factory where robots can produce products, but the human factor also supervises or interacts with the process.
Digital manufacturing makes production more efficient because it can track every part (raw material) of the product while they move from one stage to another.
Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 is an overall concept that has connected machines to enable real-time data and intelligence sharing.
By including machinery in the IoT, manufacturers have been able to analyse the operations of their business and its processes more effectively and make strategic decisions accordingly. This ‘intelligent’ industry helps manufacturers to improve product quality whilst ensuring business efficiency is on a level with its competitors.
IIoT technologies
5G
5G is the fifth-generation technology standard for cellular networks, 100 times faster than 4G. According to Wireless Device Research, this results in shorter voice, video and text data delays. This leads to reducing problems that are caused by “lagging” or slow technology by providing you with faster data transfer and allowing for increased reliability in real-time communication.
Robotics
The advancement of robotics has enabled organisations to be more efficient, productive and safer than ever. With the addition of highly sophisticated sensors and gripping ability, modern robots have been developed to do tasks ranging from delicate optical and electrical work to assembly in harsh environments.
Additive manufacturing
Additive manufacturing and 3D printing, at least in its simplest form, involves taking a digital image or 3D model and recreating it or “printing” it out in three dimensions. We can all agree there’s some fun to this process. You can print out anything from toys to tools … even household items.
Its accessibility for all sizes of businesses has resulted in the growth of rapid prototyping.
Predictive data
Big data allows organisations to capture information at source rather than waiting for the information to be processed before it can be analysed. Analysis can take months or even years in some cases. This is known as ‘big real-time data’.
Smart factories
Intelligent Factories are the next generation of manufacturing. These factories use digital technologies to transform various traditional manufacturing processes.
Smart Factories interconnect devices, people and machines and create a fully optimised production process.
They use sensors, IoT, the Cloud, Big Data, AI, virtual reality, robotics and innovative production methods – like 3D printing and CNC machining to increase efficiency, reduce costs and improve quality.
These technologies can increase efficiency, reduce excess inventory, and improve product quality through real-time feedback. They can also shorten the time required to bring products to market and aid in expanding product lines and types of products manufactured.
Furthermore, the Smart Factory will bring together increasing levels of automation and industry 4.0 technologies, including RFID, M2M and sensor-based metering combined with data analytics to allow manufacturers to control processes and collect valuable data for the manufacturing process.
While the Smart Factory is expected to roll out over the next decade, it still has some hurdles to overcome before becoming a reality for many manufacturers.