The Rise of Smart Manufacturing
How Automation is Changing the Industry
The current global economic conditions are making new demands on the manufacturing industry, especially regarding the efficiency and flexibility of production processes. A gamut of manufacturing firms is not only reckoning on the amalgamation of human efforts and technology but also embracing advanced automation technologies like AI and machine learning to make manufacturing facilities more flexible. It has been proven that combining RPA and AI can accelerate digital transformation and significantly impact core manufacturing processes, directly influencing the business’ KPIs.
Fueled by bots, automation has drastically transformed factory floors, end product quality, employment, and the industry’s economics.
The manufacturing Industry has witnessed some game-changing benefits with automation and AI coupled with the power of IoT:
- 30%-90% faster time to market
- Up to 200% higher factory output
- 10%-40% lower operating costs
$344B
Smart and Automated Factories will drive value by 2023
65%
Will save 10% of OPEX thru Advanced Production Technologies by 2030
71%
Tasks completed and automated by machines will be up from 29% by 2025
60%
Will address skill gaps using Robotic Process Automation by 2023
Manufacturing Industry has witnessed some game-changing benefits with automation and AI coupled with the power of IoT.
- 30%-90% faster time to market
- Up to 200% higher factory output
- 10%-40% lower operating costs
What does Manufacturing Automation mean for Manufacturers?
Manufacturing automation refers to using technologies like equipment and software to automate production processes to increase production capacity while reducing costs. Automation is used in manufacturing business management, such as with automated inventory scheduling, sending, and analyzing data for reporting. It also helps boost workplace safety by carrying out tasks that could injure or endanger human workers. It requires production and administrative processes to be meshed with each other, employing IT systems to optimize machines’ use and capacity utilization. It even lines and responds rapidly to wrong developments in production, thus minimizing adverse impacts on the business. As more manufacturers hunt for ways to drive efficiency and lower costs, automation in factories will continue to become more widespread.
The different forms of automation for the manufacturing industry to benefit from are as follows:
- Fixed Automation – This kind of automation is designed to perform just one function. If you constantly need to manufacture one item in the same way, this is your go-to automation type. It has a singular function, and your system should be expertly skilled at performing it. This category of automation is associated with large volume production of single parts.
- Programmable Automation- This automation category can perform several functions, manufacturing multiple item types in a shorter period. However, there is downtime when automation systems are reprogrammed to perform a new function.
- Flexible Automation- This third category falls between the other two associated with real-time or on-demand production. It can combine fixed and programmable automation and various processes to enhance efficiency with drastically less downtime.
How are Manufacturers maximizing impact with Automation?
Physical robots have already transformed the plant floor, and now software robots are changing everything else for scaling manufacturers. Global RPA market leaders like UiPath have revolutionized R&D, supply chain management, operations, customer engagement, employee productivity, and more. Typical automation software assists in the following domains:
Supply Chain Management
Automation adds more efficiency and accuracy to your supply chain. Robots work from preparing purchasing proposals to enabling real-time data gathering, collation, and reporting across your supply chain. It also ensures real-time order delivery status and lead-time reporting with robot-assisted shipment and order management.
Products and services
Automation allows robots to handle the details of managing your products and services. It helps to eliminate errors and lags out of version control, streamlines product master data integration, and enhances compliance by automating product registration with the EU and other regulatory bodies.
Operations–
Streamline production management and make operations smoother with automation. It helps to gain transparency into real-time stock movement by automating the creation of POs and PRs. It can also Automate bills of material (BOM) management to simplify sharing of technical drawings and alter plant materials and manufacturing processes.
Customer engagement
Customer engagements across all channels can be easily streamlined. Automation enables quick, automated price quotes for both retail sales and direct-to-customer. It enhances satisfying self-service with automated processes and intelligent chatbots and automates sales order management across all channels. Automation also captures, organizes, and links customer data and interactions through digital media.
Benefits of Manufacturing Automation
The benefits of automation usually show up in intangible ways, such as streamlined structure, increased productivity, employee efficiency, higher sales, and improved work.
“Manufacturing Automation and Industrial Controls Market Size is estimated to reach 503.86$ Billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 9.60%.”
—-Straits Research.
Automation helps Manufacturers in the following ways:
- Increase Productivity: Automating a manufacturing operation enhances labor productivity and production rate. Implying greater output per hour of labor input.
- Reduce labor cost: Shortage of skills and ever-increasing labor costs is the most significant setback for most manufacturing industries. Consequently, higher investment in automation has become economically justifiable to replace manual operations.
- Mitigate the effects of labor shortages: There is often a shortage of skilled labor in some countries, which has stimulated the development of automated operations as a substitute for labor.
- Reduce and eliminate routine manual and clerical tasks: Automating routine, monotonous, and fatiguing manual tasks frees the time for the employees to focus on more value-added tasks and improves the general level of working conditions.
- Improve Worker Safety: The work is made safer by automating a given operation and relieving the worker from active participation to a supervisory role.
- Improve product quality: Automation enhances production rates and performs manufacturing with more uniformity and conformity to quality specifications. Reduction of defect rate is one of the chief benefits of automation.
- Reduce Manufacturing lead time: Automation helps to reduce the elapsed time significantly between customer orders and product delivery, providing a competitive advantage to the manufacturer for future orders.
Importance of automation for the future of automation
In the manufacturing industry, automation is rising and gaining traction. Automation connects systems, applications, and software, so they work seamlessly together while the personal robots take on repetitive, time-consuming, and potentially dangerous tasks freeing people for higher-value work. The manufacturers have access to the power and promise of RPA, and automation becomes the delivery device that helps you to bring AI wherever it needs to go.
In a nutshell, the automation of production processes will permit existing productivity potentials to be better and more efficiently exploited. Automation will deliver a definite technology push to the manufacturing industry and contribute significantly to achieving a digital, real-time factory shortly.
Get Started with the Experts
In the past 2 years, we have helped several manufacturing clients achieve their automation objectives through RPA and AI/ML.
TSP is committed to helping our customers envision a fully automated enterprise and reach their automation goals by providing them with the latest UiPath Innovations and automation expertise.
