Modern manufacturing establishments demand precision, quality, performance, high precision and more, but the direct concern is ways to reduce costs (while increasing yields). Most forward-thinking factories are shifting away from human-reliant practices and adopting automation control systems; therefore, the means of achieving a profitable return on investment during operations is made easier, faster and less painstaking for manufacturers. There are many means of reducing manufacturing costs in a manufacturing centre, like:
- Cutting down material wastages
- Effective labour utilisation strategies
- Employing smart machinery for factories and warehouses
- Getting affordable quality management practices
- Save on energy consumption
This article characterises the features enabled by manufacturing automation systems to save costs throughout the product lifecycle and the impacts it has on progressive manufacturers in the digital age.
What are Industry 4.0 Factories?
A new generation of manufacturing technology is transforming how businesses manufacture, improve, and distribute their products. The Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, predictive and prescriptive analytics, AI, and machine learning are among the cutting-edge technology that manufacturers are incorporating into their manufacturing processes. Industry 4.0 factories are digitally and innovatively prepared for the fourth industrial revolution by using these technologies. For businesses that concentrate on manufacturing, warehousing and supply chain management, Industry 4.0, which includes IIoT and smart manufacturing technology, combines physical production and virtual control systems to create an ecosystem that is more comprehensive and better connected. This allows operations to be enhanced by employing intelligent digital technology, machine learning, and big data analytics tools.
Relationship Between Automation and Bringing Down Costs?
Unlike in the past, the need to accelerate production cycles is one of the top priorities for modern manufacturers because they are striving to remain related to the fast-growing and highly competitive market. This speeding-up process should be coupled with controlled costs, as manufacturing growth shows not suffer from profit deceleration too. Therefore, as automation is more like a ”second nature” for manufacturing systems, understanding the relationship between automation and cost-cutting is a knowledge that modern manufacturers cannot and should not overlook.
You decrease manual, tiresome, and repetitive work using automation, which brings down operational costs astoundingly. By automating repetitive but necessary processes, you may improve workflow efficiency while freeing up people for higher-value work, lowering expenses, and increasing income at the same time. Thus, the relationship between automation and cost-cutting is an upward parallel trend. In other words, the more mature your automation tools are, the more money and energy you can save on your industrial premises.
How Does Automation Pave the Way to Reduce Cost in Manufacturing?
Digital transformation sparked by manufacturing technology has paved the way for manufacturers to save costs in multiple ways. Here are the most lucrative cost-saving methods enabled by industry 4.0 factories.
- Bespoke System: Enable a bespoke manufacturing system to ensure decisions do not elongate system downtime or substandard performances. AI-powered manufacturing systems guide companies with success-guaranteed business strategies and operational agendas.
- Data Capture: Generating invaluable insights to stipulate predictive capabilities and filter-out definitive costs. These technologies allow you to manage and improve the end-to-end points of manufacturing centres.
- Energy Saving: Automated controllers will automate sirens/alarms to ensure energy is saved optimally. Us AI-driven models to create reactive systems that trigger during unhealthy energy exhaustion events to save energy and reduce carbon emissions in factory sites
- Labour Utilisation: Improve labour safety and work standards by appointing the right skill in the right place at the right time. Automation tools simulators can utilise labour in a more efficient manner to streamline operations around the clock.
- Machine and Robot Optimisation: Use AI to enable a healthy blend of asset cost mitigation, risk control and performance enhancement. IIoT networks and sensors can ensure that all factory machines are in their performance and cost-effective states perpetually.
- Powerful Processes: Increasing throughput by automating manufacturing lines to create more output with less time. AI-powered cross-analysis can help in optimising all operations from the bottom line to keep production on schedule.
- Quality Management Tools: Allows the machine to detect its own issues and automatically stop or assign tasks to maintenance members promptly. Digital technology metrics and models to meet all regulatory compliance requirements in real time.
- Smart Logging: Cutting-edge data logging tools to investigate and overcome production limitations to drive value, growth and profit. This helps users to configure logging to a centralised system and collaborate based on data processes.
- Smart Material Handling: Reduce manual touchpoints to reduce product handling errors by employing smart machines instead of humans. This emphasises robot utilisation to make your smart factories meet a cutting-edge future.
- Waste-free Manufacturing: Precision manufacturing technology will completely cut off raw material wastage. The AI models can be trained to detect raw material wastages which impact heavily in cutting down material expenses.
Cerexio-Powered Innovation for a Lucrative, Healthy and Effective Manufacturing Future
Cerexio MES is a highly-integrative system that accommodates features of industry 4.0 MES, ERP and QMS to optimise your manufacturing centres from the bottom line to its peak. It is a disruptive technology solution for manufacturing to reimagine a cost-friendly, profitable and bold stance in their respective markets.
This solution is advanced with in-built AI-powered metrics and tools that study and learn the financial trends of your company and help data analysts to explore cost-saving mediums throughout the financial network. For example, this solution indicates labour utilisation strategies, predictive asset maintenance schemes, energy-saving opportunities and otiose cost-cutting plans to help decision-makers bring down costs at any point of the production lifecycle. Connect with Cerexio today to adopt Cerexio MES- your leading MES partner.
Industrial Automation: A New Paradigm for Value Generation
As discussed in the article, automation plays an important role in cutting-down costs, but it can be seen as a single aspect of the value creation that happens due to digital technology. In other words, automation does not stop at saving costs, but it allows manufacturers to make better decisions, grow their business and create value while sustaining in the automation era. Many analysts believe that cost remediation is a traditional advantage of automation, for the new emphasis is on top-line growth and intuitive insights by delivering automation in the cloud. The abundance of data surging from millions of IoT networks saves costs but also guides manufacturers in reducing human workforce dependability, improving fraud and risk response coverages and decreasing process failures using smart machines.
Therefore, if your manufacturing centre is still relying on paper-based manufacturing processes, a range of inconveniences are heading your way. This is why digitising your factories and warehouses must be a prioritised initiative that you must pursue.
This article is prepared by Cerexio, a leading technology vendor that offers specialised solutions in the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Sector. The company is headquartered in Singapore and has offices even in Australia. Cerexio consists of a team of experts that have years of experience and hold detailed knowledge on a range of subject matters centric to the latest technologies offered in manufacturing and warehouse operations, as well as in predictive maintenance, digital twin, PLC & instrumentation setup, enterprise integrator, data analytics and total investment system.
