Recent manufacturing experts are regularly impacted by dynamic influences that deform and reform the nature, criticality, trends and behaviours of manufacturing. The dynamicity of policies, conditions, standards and client expectations push manufacturers to an edge of a cliff; hence, an innovative technology suite is used by modern manufacturers to remain sustainable, reliable and unaffected by these external impacts.
Innovative MES solutions ensure that modern manufacturing practitioners are not incompetent to meet dynamic demands by being static in changing environments. It permits change from productivity to better productivity, from employee exhaustion to optimal labour utilisation, or from one environmental policy to another. This is why understanding the ins and outs of an MES in the fourth industrial revolution is vital to ensure that your manufacturing efforts are either ineffective or inefficient.
This article helps the reader understand what makes an MES different from a conventional MES and what the new challenges are needfully handled by recent MES solutions.
Recent Challenges of The Modern Manufacturing
High Degree in Personalised Manufacturing
Personalised manufacturing has affected the productivity time and quality of most manufacturing centres. Many clients expect fast, customised and high-quality goods, which will only get more complicated in industry 4.0. The competition in manufacturing markets is higher than ever, so recognising trends, market patterns, manufacturing process development, and the needful technology tools is important but challenging for most manufacturers.
Suboptimal Labour Utilisation Due to Skill Shortages
After the pandemic, most manufacturing has had difficulty utilising labour because of the skilled workforce shortages due to the international workforce failing to retain in manufacturing centres. This has led to millions of losses because the faster the workforce retention rates drop, the faster the production, productivity and ROI levels hit rock bottom. This is one of the direct consequences of not being prepared for epidemic situations because it makes market trends complicated, and manufacturers need an unwavering troop of labour to meet demands on time.
Failure in Meeting Environmental Standards
The environmental policies and state warp every passing minute. Many environment-conserving countries ensure that industrial practices are not harming the environment, the well-being of communities and the longevity of natural resources. Therefore, industrial discharges like smoke and industrial waste must be minimised and tracked in every industrial facility to ensure they do not harm nature. Most manufacturers who are not abiding by these rules do not face serious legal consequences but also lose the trust they have in their clientele.
Assets and Industrial Space are Not Limited but Poorly Utilised
Uncontrollable resource wastages keep manufacturers from investing in smart machines, equipment, and industrial space like warehouses and factories. Hence, most industry experts in the manufacturing world are often challenged with the limitation of fixed assets to streamline manufacturing operations. Understanding the criticality of each manufacturing process and using fixed assets with a clear understanding of their conditions can help manufacturers utilise existing fixed assets without making space for additional assets. However, not all manufacturing experts investigate these hidden ‘cost-savers’, therefore; as a result, they spend a fortune on assets.
How Can New-Age MES Help?
Despite the previously mentioned manufacturing limitations and more, an MES solution can use the power of AI, ML and other industry 4.0-defined digital technologies to slay all manufacturing shortcomings at once. Modern MES solutions that facilitate smart manufacturing centres are upgraded with a range of digital technologies that supercharge the tracking and tracing capabilities and allow manufacturers to improve yield without spending an extra penny.
Here are some of the most intriguing technology tools that can be embedded into MES solutions built to fit the industry 4.0 demands of the modern manufacturing sector.
Interactive and Simulative Virtual Asset Models
4D digital twin environments with simulative capabilities allow manufacturing decision-makers to use interactive virtual models of manufacturing equipment, production lines and factories to have more apparent data-driven perspectives. They can simulate manufacturing events and anticipate event-driven operational plans to keep up with manufacturing demands even during the most critical periods. Immersive technologies like AR and VR can be utilised by senior decision-makers of the manufacturing organisation to virtually visit the workstations and manufacturing floors and supervise labour, ensure optimal asset utilisation, monitor resource wastages and detect environment unfriendly actions and more.
The Irreplaceable Features of AI Technology
- Detect the 6 big losses (breakdowns, suboptimal changeovers, minor operational stops, substandard performance speed, startup defects, and rework/scrap occurring due to in-process defects) of manufacturing ecosystems and ensure they are mitigated
- Ensure operational, managerial and administrative quality, efficiency and sustenance
- Ensure your data is secured and privatised from cyber pirates
- Identity hidden root causes through cross-process analysis and other intelligent models
- Personalised manufacturing capabilities
- Predict the future conditions of manufacturing equipment, production lines, robots and infrastructure
- Smartly schedule to optimise work order scheduling based on the availability of resources and criticality of the client demand
To detect CO2 emission levels and evaluate the intensity of its risks in real-time
Interconnected at A Granular Level
The new MES solution does not perform as an isolated system; it functions as a hyperconnected intelligent point that integrates all data sources into a consolidated information hub. For example, the MES will be using ubiquitous APIs to interconnect applications, ERP, WMS, BMS, cloud drives, data warehouses, procurement systems, POS, remote asset fleet managers, HRMS and a range of other technology systems to make sure that all the departments of your organisation work in unison. It uses the power of IIoT to create a data-rich point that helps manufacturing decision-makers make decisions faster and more reliably with utmost fault-proof.
Cerexio MES- the Best MES solution for Forward-thinking Manufacturers
Cerexio MES- is one of the most celebrated MES solutions worldwide, recognised as one of the five most competent MES solutions globally. This software suite allows forward-thinking manufacturers to use smart, advanced and integrated software tools to spearhead their success with smarter decisions, fewer resources and more committed labour.
Connect with Cerexio to learn more about the amazing features, tools and benefits of Cerexio MES and how we can help your manufacturing facilities transform from brown factories to eco-friendly smart factories within a few clicks.
