The emergence of innovative digital technologies and advancements in artificial intelligence and automation is ushering in a fresh era of manufacturing innovation. These “intelligent factories” will utilize industrial equipment that communicates with both users and other machines, automated procedures, and mechanisms to enable real-time communication between the factory and the market. This dynamic interaction aims to facilitate swift adaptation and maximize operational efficiency. Intelligent factories can deliver various advantages, including enhanced process efficiency, product quality, sustainability, and safety, all while reducing operational costs.

For the successful implementation of a smart factory, consider focusing on these three fundamental principles:

1. Cultivate Digital People: Workforce competencies and skills must develop in step with environment changes to enable employees to cope with rapid technological advancement and overcome organizational inertia. Leaders must focus on recruiting and empowering people with digital competencies while simultaneously developing digital skills in the existing workforce.
2. Introduce Agile Processes: Agile implementation processes, incorporated into formal work approaches, provide autonomy and flexibility in smart factory implementation. Sprints, daily stand-ups, short development cycles, and minimum viable solutions create a continuous evaluation cycle that provides opportunities to continuously improve production processes in the face of changing demands.
3. Configure Modular Technology: Dividing technological solutions into modules and delivering each solution step by step as training is ongoing will help to build acceptance and minimize overwhelmed responses. Construct the foundations of a solutions’ architecture that is both mobile and modular. Capabilities required to support the desired functionalities can be acquired over time, and teams can work with greater autonomy to expedite action. Modularity provides opportunities for continuous innovation and reduces lock-in to particular technologies.

For more information on how your business can transform into a Factory of the Future, please contact cGMP Consulting today at Info@cgmpconsulting.com!

Shivani Upadhyay, Project Coordinator