Trends in Manufacturing
Digital transformation is a process that is more and more present in our daily lives. One can easily notice that simple activities of daily life have undergone major changes, such as getting an Uber via mobile app instead of calling a taxi, or reading e-books. Digitization can revolutionize the daily lives of people and companies, bringing solutions in several critical areas. Here we focus on the advances in industrial productivity, with the development of industry 4.0 or Advanced Manufacturing.
Industry 4.0 is a term that originated from a high-tech strategic project of the German Government, whose concept encompasses technological innovations in the fields of automation, control and information technology applied to manufacturing processes. This name was attributed because it is the “fourth industrial revolution”.
The first industrial revolution mobilized the mechanization of production using water and steam energy. The second introduced mass production with the help of electric power. Then came the digital revolution with the use of electronics and IT to further automate production. In practice, what are the main benefits that these technologies bring to the industry? The first marker of this evolution in industry is the use of the Internet as a platform for information exchange, allowing communication between an unlimited number of devices, giving rise to what is called the Internet of Things, or IoT. This technology today is closely related to automated knowledge management, cloud-based systems sharing, and data security.
The integration and control of production from sensors and equipment connected in the network is the fusion of the real world with the virtual, thus creating the so-called cyber-physical systems, which can be seen as the thread that unites advanced manufacturing and allows the use of artificial intelligence (AI). A very important application of AI in the context of Advanced Manufacturing is the concept of “Machine Learning”, in which algorithms and data analysis methods (big data) are used to automate “learning” by machines, allowing them to improve execution on certain tasks, without any human intervention.
Cyber-physical systems and big data allow, for example, industries to obtain data of the state of the equipment and create statistical models for evaluation of the machines, to generate a model of predictive maintenance that prevents a stop in the production and / or disposal of large lots of defective product.
Another major development brought about by Advanced Manufacturing is in testing. Product defects that could only be detected at the end of the production line, in this new context, are tested through digital platforms in the engineering phase, contributing to an accelerated cycle of launching new products, in addition to economizing resources.
TOTVS has been attentive to the evolutions in industry, and has proactively developed a solution that integrates machines to TOTVS MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems), our ERP. The software allows the monitoring of the entire process of the factory floor in real time. This leads to a number of advantages, such as loss reduction with low productivity, traceability of the whole process, consumption control, guarantee of products in accordance with the technical norms and the precision in the control of materials. In addition, the biggest asset of the MES is to promote the improvement of the factory’s overall OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), increasing response time of managers through online monitoring of machines and identifying factors that can reduce productivity.
Another important solution in the TOTVS portfolio to support advances in Advanced Manufacturing is TOTVS RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), a technology used to identify items that can be products such as cars, animals, equipment , etc. The data is transmitted in an RFID system by means of radio waves in small or great distances. With special radio frequency (microchip) tags attached to products, your data is identified and can be transmitted to a management system. There is a whole structure to be integrated to ensure the operation of technology such as antennas, readers, information filtering tools and communication systems. With RFID it is possible to optimize processes such as inventory, materials tracking, quality checks and production control, reducing costs and increasing productivity in these processes.
We are witnessing an integration of the digital world with the real, through different companies in the value chain. The world is more connected and factories are more intelligent, with productivity and efficiency at levels never seen before. In addition, factories are reaching levels of flexibility that allow for mass customization of the products manufactured. The main challenges that companies face are: expansion of network infrastructure, information security, integration between several technologies and cost reduction to make this model accessible to companies of all sizes.
Let’s get to work!
