According to IHS (an independent research organisation), in 2015, there were about 15.4 billion connected devices which will grow to 30.7 billion in 2020, and 75.4 billion by 2025. Products like industrial sensors, connected manufacturing machines, in-store analysis devices and workspace management applications will fundamentally transform manufacturing into ‘Smart Manufacturing’, driven largely by the fear of falling off on the wrong side of the divide between the ‘haves and have nots’ of digital manufacturing.
What are the Challenges Indian manufacturers face?
While almost every manufacturer has a vision to have a smart factory using various solutions of IIOT, they say that the ‘implementation’ of their goals is by no means an easy feat. The two factors challenging the implementation of a Smart Factory are: one, the plethora of electronic devices, protocols and IT infrastructure in the shop floor that are currently functioning require a unified plan for a secure connection to the enterprise and two, to have the IT teams and resources that develop a connect and convergence plan with the plant OT infrastructure which is isolated from corporate IT infrastructure.
What’s the strategy that customers are deploying
Customers have a myriad of options and are fully aware that they can’t go with a ‘one size fits all’ approach. One major step that customers have taken is a stronger collaboration between their operations teams and the IT teams. The IT teams work closely to identify the operational team requirements and strategize along with engineering teams to develop the IIOT strategy.
So, manufacturing companies now want a two-pronged approach to this strategy.
- Develop a unified platform that connects the two worlds of the shop floor and enterprise in a secure fashion and expose all the information required in a unified format.
- Use this data / information from remote or in site to present it to various stake holders, MES systems and ERP systems.
In partnership with Rockwell Automation and its alliance partners like CISCO, MAC Machine Tools and Automation offers IIOT and Smart Manufacturing solutions as a Platform Provider. MAC has partnered with various specialised integrators in the Control and MES domain to help customers implement their IIOT strategy.
Connected Enterprise
Smart manufacturing is the gateway to digital transformation. Connected smart devices open new windows of visibility into processes, data & analytics which enable better and faster decision making. Connected Enterprise converges plant-level enterprise networks & securely connects people, processes, & technologies
Shop Floor Management & Improved Production
Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) provides standardized workflows to operators to ensure the highest possible production quality and regulatory compliance. By modelling your manufacturing process to drive out variability, MES can provide protection against loss of intellectual property. In addition, MES propels continuous improvement initiatives by providing new ways to analyse process data. It also connects your enterprise by closing the information loop from execution through data management. It is scalable and offers standard application library suites for common functions in the pharmaceutical, consumer packaged goods and automotive industries.
A Secure Shop Floor
Protect people, machinery and environment through Integrated Smart Sensors which provide a continuous flow of data to controllers, enabling operators to make better decisions in real-time. With Smart Sensors available for many applications – from pressure to temperature, motion to distance, level to flow and many more, users have a comprehensive view of their equipment and can quickly address issues that occur.
Quality control
Today, manufacturers rely on a myriad of quality management software programs and paper-based processes to achieve consistent production quality. The new Rockwell Software Quality Management application is an out-of-box, comprehensive quality management solution that allows manufacturers to easily model and enforce their plants’ in-process quality regimens. With this solution, customers can remove disparate systems and antiquated paper processes to help reduce the cost of quality compliance.
