Technology attributes
Other attributes
The smart factory is a concept used to describe the applications of combinations of technologies to create a flexible, self-adapting manufacturing capability. Smart factories are seen as opportunities to create new forms of efficiencies and flexibility in manufacturing through the connection of different processes, information streams, and stakeholders in a streamlined fashion. Some of these processes and technologies include artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing, and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), which offer comprehensive development of new manufacturing practices. These technologies and processes connect the physical and digital worlds to allow administrators to monitor an entire product process.
Smart factories are intended to
- offer real-time, on-demand performance progress reports visible across the production chain;
- provide information and technology to improve physical process control;
- refine processes and production through advanced analytics;
- enable flexible, adaptive, and proactive production; and
- facilitate end-to-end integrations with suppliers and customers.
These technologies should allow a smart factory system to learn and adapt in near real time, if not real time, and allow smart factories to be more flexible than their predecessors.
The smart factory does not involve a single technology, but is the combination of various technologies that contribute to a factory capable of "smart manufacturing." The technologies utilized depend on the type of factory and include a combination of most, if not all, of the following in different capacities:
Technologies of the smart factory
Similar to smart home devices that can automate routine actions, a smart factory can use connected devices and sensors linked to critical devices, machines, and systems and can automate routine actions and provide data for real-time decisions. The automation and the amount of control or decision-making ability given to the automated systems depends on the specific type of manufacturing and includes a level of human intervention where needed. The amount of data generated by a smart factory can also be used to provide real-time insight to supply chain stakeholders to increase efficiency and allow issues to be addressed proactively.
Businesses can also benefit from smart factory technology through a leaner process, allowing the business to save on management costs and reduced material handling costs while lowering inventory holding costs. Smart factory technology also offers predictive maintenance for machinery, which can allow businesses to address problems before they cause bottlenecks or slowdowns in the manufacturing process and reduce overall machine downtime. This reduction in downtime can increase productivity. And by freeing engineers from mundane, easily automated tasks, their energies can instead be turned to responding to supply chain changes, identifying inefficiencies, and completing other tasks around a businesses operation.
A smart factory offers full visibility of assets. This visibility allows a business to understand their factory floor logistics through the connection of machines, tooling, or materials of production surfaces, and can offer operators a clear picture of the production chain. This can be used to optimize asset usage and intra-factory logistics. Further, this visibility can be used to increase employee and asset safety.
The automated and controlled work environment poses less threats to workers responsible for monitoring, operating, and maintaining components, especially if downtime can be reduced and employees do not feel the pressure to get a machine up and running as fast as possible, which can lead to industrial accidents. As well, employees can be tracked, which can allow an administrator to know where an employee is at any time and know if they are entering any predefined risk zones or warn them of any nearby dangers.
Due to the increased efficiencies offered by smart factories, factory technology can make it easier for a business to identify and act on opportunities to increase the energy efficiency, safety, and socially responsibility of manufacturing practices. This can include the use of blockchain or RFID sensors to ensure provenance and quality control of materials and supplies. As well, the increased visibility can create opportunities for a smart factory to create rapid customization, allowing a factory to respond quicker to shifting trends than traditional manufacturing processes, allowing a manufacturer to keep up with consumer desires. This can increase competitiveness in the market, offer better product reviews, and decrease costly returns or recalls.
One of the major challenges to the development of the smart factory is the impact it will have on jobs. One way it will change jobs is that most people in a smart factory will take on more complex roles, as automation will offer a chance to remove people from the mundane, repeatable, and dangerous jobs that are taken by workers. And this will create what is known as "the digital talent gap," which describes the need for workers to have digital skill sets as companies move to digital technologies.
While a smart factory will undoubtedly reduce workplace accidents, injuries, and death, it does this because a smart factory needs around one third of the employees as a traditional manufacturing scenario. This also means companies will need to begin investing in talent development as the adoption of industry 4.0 technology, which will require a greater need for workers with those digital skills.
