Mass production and the quest to meet the needs of the economy have necessitated the incorporation of technology in the manufacturing industry. Technology can help your company by making manufacturing faster, increasing production volume, and bettering your competition. It also minimizes human error because machines are more precise compared to humans.
Modern Innovations In Manufacturing
Technology has reimagined production processes, and the future of manufacturing looks bright because of the efficiency brought in by different innovations. If you’re a manager leading a manufacturing plant, you need to be aware of the modern-day tools you can utilize to level up the amount of your production. Continue reading to know some of the technological innovations shaping the manufacturing industry now and in the future.
Clamping Systems
In production, processes such as holding a piece of material are always present, so you need clamping equipment in enhancing accuracy and production quality. It also reduces the production time of your products. Clamping techniques and power have advanced for both small and big tasks. Types of clamps include:
- Manual Clamp: A manual clamp has a holding handle, a clamping arm, a connecting system for applying more force, and a stable base.
- Adjustable Clamp: An adjustable clamp includes cantilever clamp, bar clamp, C-clamp, and stroke plunger clamp.
- Power Clamp: A power clamp is operated by the use of fluid pressure or air pressure.
- Vise: A vise is used in milling, drilling presses, and grinding machines. It’s excellent in preventing slippage and improving accuracy. Its variations are screw action vise, quick action speed vise, and screwless vise.
Collaborative Robots (Cobots)
Collaborative robots are designed to work together with humans not only in factories but also in warehouses to increase productivity, boost safety, and reduce time. By quickly completing menial tasks, they create more time and increase flexibility for manufacturing managers.
As robotics continue to advance, you’d need to equip yourself with appropriate skills to oversee manufacturing processes. You have to be knowledgeable in management techniques to handle the cutting-edge technology and its impact on the industry.
Industrial Internet Of Things (IIoT)
The manufacturing industry is now embracing the technology of interconnected devices in its industrial applications. Apart from the use of countless instruments and devices, there are also interlinked sensors. Networked sensors come with several advantages in manufacturing such as automated inventory management, data collection, and self-optimization.
Industrial internet of things (IIoT) automates tasks meant for employees and delivers new ways of data insights to increase savings and streamline processes. More advanced IIoT technologies are used to visualize how to better energy usage, occupancy trends, and environmental conditions.
IIoT brings together other technologies such as machine learning, cloud integration, machine automation, and big data. Manufacturing professionals are using these technologies in proactive and predictive maintenance, resource optimization, real-time monitoring, cross-facility operations analysis, and supply chain visibility, which helps you as a production manager to lower downtime and boost efficiency.
IIoT also helps manufacturing managers to perform regular maintenance of equipment to ensure continued production. However, production devices and equipment need servicing at different times. Thus, using IIoT helps in monitoring conditions to schedule preventive maintenance at appropriate times. Planned and scheduled regulation protects your company from unforeseen outages and losses as a result of oversight.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
ERP is widely gaining use in the manufacturing industry through the integration of cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) options, which can be afforded by small businesses and are easy to implement. ERP helps automate several operational areas into one comprehensive system. This central access point provides your manufacturing team with the capability to oversee the procedures and to carry out necessary adjustments.
3D Printing
3D printing is known to add a layer of manufacturing technology that’s greatly being used in industries like aerospace, automobiles, mining machinery, and service machinery, among others. With this high-end technology, you can design physical products using complex digital procedures which are stored in 3D computer-aided design (CAD) files. You can then print these on materials such as rubber, plastic, nylon, metal, and glass. Meanwhile, 3D bioprinting is a technology you can use to print and manufacture functional organs and living tissue in the medical research field.
3D printers are efficient in creating complex designs and images at relatively fair costs. It also gives your engineering and designing team more manufacturing freedom. 3D is leading in manufacturing as a service to enable companies to have the updated infrastructure, which facilitates several clients and does away with the need to buy new equipment.
Accessible Automation
Automation is expected to ease manufacturing processes more as its adoption in manufacturing is finding more acceptance. New automation technologies such as the use of robotics and easy-to-use applications such as Manufacturing Process Management (MPM) systems coupled with human-robot collaboration have made things simpler. Automation helps your company optimize workflow and reduce costs.
Virtual Reality
With virtual reality (VR), you can simplify how you design products by removing the need to design complex prototypes. If you’re an engineer or a designer, you can create realistic models and visualize them digitally to identify potential issues before moving on with production. You can also allow your customers to interact with the virtual designs and let them give reviews before production.
This technology is in wide use in automobile manufacture where you can test your vehicle at the inception of the product, which helps you reduce cost and time for redesigning safety features and tolerances.
Machine Learning And Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) are computer systems that can recognize specific trends and come up with logical conclusions to help your manufacturing team in making data-driven decisions. You can integrate AI with machine learning to boost manufacturing processes such as inventory management, transportation cost reduction, supply chain visibility, forecasting accuracy, warehousing cost reduction, and asset tracking.
Wrapping Up
To meet the growing demands of products such as cars and foodstuff, among others, you need to embrace modern technologies that can help you increase your production levels, reduce manufacturing costs, increase efficiency, and cut the production time. The examples given in this article can take your company a long way in boosting your revenues.
Based on the nature of the manufacturing you deal in, you can embrace technologies such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, automation, clamping systems, and the industrial internet of things to level up your production processes.
