Manufacturing industry has witnessed many changes since the discovery of steam engine. It has been reshaped and innovated countless times, and inherently it went hand in hand with the development of new technologies and kept adapting. Yet despite constant innovations, it still faces many challenges with implementing new solutions, and with the increasing complexity of technology comes more challenging integration.
What is industry 4.0?
Curiosity, and oftentimes necessity, have always pushed humans to find ways to improve things and make processes more efficient. We came a long way since the invention of assembly line, but the essence of it still remains, despite IoT, AI and other advancements. Industry 4.0 strives for full automation and aims towards creation of smart factories, where processes would be fully automated and easily improved. The data generated daily on the shopfloors of modern factories allows those factories not only to keep track of all the processes and products, but enables them to incrementally improve the way they operate. In 21st century the data has proven to be a precious resource for any business, and this is especially true for manufacturing, due to the quality standards it needs to adhere to.
What challenges is industry 4.0 facing?
Throughout the history manufacturing has always faced many challenges, and it has always been quick to pivot around them. The problem when it comes to industry 4.0 is the sheer complexity of technology it has to cope with, such as various SDKs, API, EMS and of course AI. It is also worth noting that without keeping up with the advancements, average manufacturing company is running a risk of rapidly being taken out of the game, succumbing to the fierce competition.
However, technology implementation is not the only problem facing manufacturers. Today, businesses are facing many challenges, such as lack of skilled workforce, loss of knowledge due to retiring of workforce, outdated IT systems, environmental sustainability, shopfloor optimization, increasing productivity, etc. This is precisely why most companies chose to have a tech consultant such as Vision Intelligence who can provide the ‘’IT savvy’’ expertise and aid the business while also helping the workers in their daily operations.
1. Lack of workforce
In a fast-pacing world where new professions emerge daily, young people who grew up with internet have vastly different point of view than previous generations of how should career path look like. On top of that, the demand for producing new things and more of it is ever growing and is only exponentially increasing as new inventions are created. Both of these conditions combined result in the increasing need for more manpower on one side, and lack of workforce on the other. It is estimated that in UK there are still 64 000 vacancies in manufacturing, as of July 2024. To overcome this, manufacturing industry needs to be creative, resourceful, but most importantly it needs to harvest the potential of the emerging innovations which will enable the current workforce to be more effective, productive, adaptable, efficient and versatile in its skills and approach.
2. Lack of appropriate skills for industry 4.0
Many workers have not been skilled nor educated in using digital tools in their daily operations. This poses significant challenge as workers need to be trained in using the technology and workers need to adapt to having screens tablets and other devices included in their job routine. According to the report done by Make UK, skill and knowledge gap is remaining a priority to be addressed by the long-term government strategy.
On the other side it means that the interface has to be simple, clean and any additional hardware introduced has to be durable and factory environment friendly.
3. Loss in knowledge due to retiring workforce
As previously mentioned, manufacturing industry is facing a serious challenge in the lack of workforce, unfortunately, the problem is only getting more serious as the time progresses since the current workforce is only getting older and is slowly retiring. As this happens, the workforce is taking the knowledge with them, leaving companies with a huge gap in the know-how, and with no way of regaining or retaining the skills it needs to keep up with the established processes. This is not only slowing down the production, but in some cases fully stopping certain processes while the company re-establishes procedures and trains new personnel.
However, none of this reassures that no such thing will ever happen again, as sometimes documentation is not enough, as the true understanding and skill lies with the workers themselves, and this is especially true for highly manual processes which cannot be altered much, due to the nature of certain jobs.
4. Old and outdated IT systems not suited for the age of AI
Established IT systems in factories are the thing of a past. Inherited from some previous times, in the age of AI they are lacking agility, user friendliness and overall ‘’smartness’’ the new technologies of industry 4.0 are offering. These legacy systems are in most cases not adaptable, nor can they be repurposed or coupled up with new functionalities. Simply put, while these outdated systems are capable of fulfilling their original purpose and assist workers on a discreet task, but on a broader scale they can’t compete with interconnectability, analysis and usefulness of the new technologies. This is also supported by the 2023 World manufacturing report, which emphasizes the use of digital technologies for real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and demand forecasting, leading to better inventory management and reduced lead times.
5. Meeting the ecological standards and reaching green goals
Apart from being profitable, in this day and age it is paramount that a business contributes to relevant ecological goals and be mindful of its impact on the planet. To be able to reach the ‘’green goals’’ a business must adhere to the highest ecological standards, and this is especially true for factories, as they have a huge footprint on pollution. The industry 4.0 holds a very important role in transforming the established processes, and with the help of data, it can take an informed approach and improve its operations, all the way from assembly line to the overall factory output.
6. Increasing shopfloor productivity affordably
It is an established fact that the data is one of the most valuable resources today, no matter the industry. As such, it is providing a huge opportunity for improving virtually any business, when gathered and used appropriately. One of the direct benefits when it comes to manufacturing is that the data can provide an invaluable insight into daily operations and can help both managers and operators gain a new understanding into manufacturing issues. How this is later implemented will have a direct impact on how the processes are improved and production lines optimized, which is directly reflecting to changes in overall output, and the profitability which can be achieved.
Prospects of mitigating the impact of the challenges
All of the challenges manufacturing industry is facing are slowly being addressed. Many businesses are seeing the potential in new technologies but are lacking the expertise to implement it. Various government programs recognize this and are offering support through numerous projects, along with the startups that have the necessary expertise and aim to bridge the gap towards manufacturing 4.0.
Needs and demand are growing by the day, and it is becoming evident that unless the manufacturing industry radically changes its speed of adapting innovation, many companies are running a risk of being taken out of the business. In his report Mario Draghi concludes that Europe needs to increase productivity in order to stay competitive in a global market, and this is especially true in cases where a lot of manual labor is required. The choice is simple: increase productivity by going back to the standards of 19th century manufacturing with painfully long shifts or embrace the benefits new technologies, such as AI, are offering.
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