Manufacturing business systems become integrated and data-driven in real time

Overview

In any business, functional silos create duplication of processes and knowledge gaps that hinder collaboration, efficiency, and ultimately growth. This is increasingly true in manufacturing, which has traditionally been disconnected from the rest of an organization’s business systems. As digital transformation continues to take hold, we find that this setup only delays valuable data to the stakeholders who need it most to make decisions that impact the viability of the entire enterprise. companies are increasing.

Why Integration Is Transformative The transformation to integrated, real-time, data-driven manufacturing seen in initiatives around the world is recursive, driven by inefficiencies, lost opportunities and lack of immediate data to act on. results from the perception of inappropriate decision-making based on With the technology available today, manufacturing can and should be integrated just like any other part of the business structure.

The most efficient manufacturing industries operate in this kind of environment, replacing the old enterprise resource planning (ERP). (Figure 1). It no longer makes sense to manually create work orders to release inventory or start production, and not know what will happen in production until factory information is fed back into the system, so-called “backflushing” . Manufacturing execution systems (MES) improve plant visibility and real-time work orders/inventory release/production, but lead to complex and duplicate models, higher costs, and questionable reliability, while product Doesn’t provide enough insight into availability. Digital integration changes all that.

Real-time data-driven DMA

The transition to a Digital Manufacturing Architecture (DMA) is a fundamental building block of transformation from the enterprise level to the extremes of manufacturing and production, sensing and control devices (Figure 2). Distributed systems include applications on embedded processors in sensors, actuators, barcode readers, cameras, and other field devices that can be controlled locally, but equally importantly, for complex calculations and adjustments at any time. being able to access it remotely.

This architecture enables real-time transaction processing and synchronization with manufacturing, creating a closed loop. In addition to being a highly integrated and effective DMA, it:

• Instant enterprise-wide visibility
• Provide unified, accurate and timely data for decision making
• Adjust to changing supply chains, costs and customer demands, and optimize internal and external resources.

Companies that have tried to achieve real-time synchronization using plant floor computing have had to continuously integrate information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT). The next step is to move to a highly integrated architecture. This provides instant visibility from the manufacturing and production stages, throughout the supply he chain, and ultimately to customers and other stakeholders.

The most effective architecture aligns all elements of the process for flexibility in the face of external changes, such as supply chain, customer demand, cost, availability, energy, and sustainability requirements. and should be optimized. New DMA technology accomplishes this by leveraging advances in distributed computing and open systems to deliver synchronized, real-time, optimized production. (Fig.3).

Customer orders, supply chain factors, and factory operations are input into a digital twin, the ideal operational model for factories and their processes.Real-time collaboration across systems creates a closed loop (Fig.4) Analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning adjust and optimize operations with continuous feedback.

important point

Real-time digital manufacturing means becoming a more efficient, comprehensive and competitive business. By integrating manufacturing and production into the entire business system, the foundation of manufacturing and production is being rebuilt.

A digital manufacturing architecture provides a streamlined approach to enterprise-wide clarity that enables stakeholders to adjust operations based on real-time insight – data transparency. This improves reliability, quality, productivity, profitability, safety, flexibility, informed decision-making and overall competitiveness as a business.

Each organization must find the best way for their teams to achieve the goal of efficient and profitable production through digitalization, which integrates IT, OT, engineering, production, and other departments. It starts with By bringing these stakeholder groups together, rather than maintaining siled departments, companies gain the depth of knowledge and expertise embedded in them, and along with their business-critical data, new ways of thinking, Unleash innovation, and results.

_{This feature was originally created by Bill Lydon 7th Annual Industrial Automation and Control Trends Report.}

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