What is Smart Manufacturing? A Complete Guide
A production manager at a mid-size machining unit in Pune gets a call on a Tuesday afternoon. A key automotive customer is threatening to pull the contract. Two deliveries in a row have been late. The manager walks to the floor. Machines are running. Operators look busy. On paper, everything should be fine. But there’s […]
Poka-Yoke in manufacturing ( Free excel check sheet included )
Free poka yoke audit check sheet excel One skipped step, one misplaced part — and an entire batch can fail. But what if your process made mistakes impossible? That’s the power of poka-yoke in manufacturing. Snapshot Poka-yoke in manufacturing is a simple, yet powerful method of mistake-proofing processes to prevent defects before they happen. It […]
How to improve Industry 4.0 ROI and how long does it take ?
Key Takeaways : Industry 4.0 helps improve ROI by reducing machine downtime and improving production quality. ROI from Industry 4.0 can be achieved within weeks or months depending on the investment and solutions implemented. Focusing on low-hanging fruit like operator behavior can yield quick improvements in capacity utilization. Industry 4.0 software provides data and insights […]
Industry 4.0 production monitoring system vs manual system
Production monitoring – accuracy and speed of data To be able to take correct and timely decisions on the shop floor, you need accurately and timely data from a good production monitoring system. With traditional paper-based manual production monitoring, data takes 1 day to reach you. With Industry 4.0, it takes 1 minute. 1440 minutes, […]
Industry 4.0 and Lean manufacturing
Why Industry 4.0 and Lean go together As the number of machines on our shop floor increases, the darkness increases, and we stand there, wondering, fearing, doubting…..We have no idea of the current production quantity, which machines are running and which are idle, what is the ROI on the machines, and a hundred other things […]
Industry 4 revolution and shop floor IT
Industry 4 revolution and shop floor IT In most organizations, the IT network covers all the functions outside the shop floor – Accounts, HR, Stores, Sales, etc. Managers have accurate and up-to-date data on all these functions, and can take quick decisions in these areas. The shop floor, however, is an island in this sea […]
What is Industry 4.0 ? A simple explanation
What Industry 4.0 is, what it is NOT Industry 4.0 is a system that comprises these components: 1. Machines 2. Sensors 3. Data transfer over internet (IOT) 4. Software that analyzes the data and takes decisions – data analytics The Industry 4.0 components in the picture combine to do this: 1. There’s a machine 2. There is […]
5 Industry 4.0 applications outside the shop floor
Industry 4.0 applications outside the shop floor The data that is collected from machines can also be used by software applications that are peripheral to actual production. Here are some Industry 4.0 applications in manufacturing, outside the factory. 1. Material shipment to customer Your scheduling software has access to your monitoring system’s database. It knows […]
Misconception – Industry 4.0 implementation can happen without the CEO
Industry 4.0 implementation – what is the role of a CEO ? What is the role of a CEO in implementing Industry 4.0 and keeping it going in an organization ? Does the CEO have to be hands-on ? This picture is the short answer, which is that the role of a CEO is critical. […]
Industry 4.0 standard – is there such a thing ?
Is there such a thing as an Industry 4.0 standard ? Does ‘Conforms to Industry 4.0 standard ’ have any meaning ? No. The term is meaningless. There is no yardstick that you can use to say ‘This system conforms to the Industry 4.0 standard’. Industry 4.0 is merely a term used to denote a kind of […]