Efficiency is likely already a key part of your business strategy. But are you innovating enough to harness the full potential of efficiency-supporting technologies—artificial intelligence (AI) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) tools, for example?
With external influencing factors like supply shortage, geopolitical turbulence and skills shortages having a huge impact on manufacturers globally, investing in innovative, problem-solving technologies is vital. To stay competitive and future-proof your business, you need to be able to do more with less, and make your business even more efficient.
Attitudes towards change can make innovation difficult, but with the data insights that come with smart technologies, you can measure ROI while improving the efficiency of your business.
By making your business even more efficient, you can:
- Cut costs
- Balance resources and operate lean
- Maintain productivity and uptime levels
“Robotics and automation can enhance efficiency, whereas artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities can provide the required edge. Increased automation is likely to provide productivity…” 1
- Deloitte
Boost efficiency with augmented and virtual reality investments.
By investing in augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) technologies, you can make training, development and prototyping more immersive, collaborative and innovative.
Use AR and VR technologies to aid your workforce in their jobs, boosting performance and saving time. For example, you can use AR and VR to aid your research and development and design teams by enabling the visualisation of designs, cross-team collaboration and immersive digital modelling. Other use cases include training and maintenance—by using AR to overlay operating instructions over machinery, less human resource is required to train workers.
“Augmented reality (AR) is one of the most exciting and impactful experiences making its way into today’s manufacturing industries. Because AR applications work on a multitude of devices tailored to almost any environmental situation, AR is no longer a restricted technology, or a trade show gimmick.” 2
- The Manufacturer
Machine learning (ML), AI and IIoT devices can aid in making OT equipment and machines run more efficiently, using less energy and producing less waste. Sensors and machine learning technologies can monitor how much energy machines and facilities use, how much waste and heat they produce, and how productive they are. AI can analyse this data in real-time, providing insights into your carbon footprint and sustainability. Use these insights to aid in making sustainability-focused changes and improvements, helping your business become the sustainable and responsible corporate citizen partners and customers want. AI can also analyse market trends and predict demand, helping you reduce waste by preventing overstocking or stock outs.
Boost efficiency to future-proof your business.
Use AI to diversify your supplier network, including diversifying the geographical locations of your suppliers. By diversifying your supply chain, you can reduce the impact of disruptions from a single source or geographic region which may have been affected by politics, natural disasters or economic issues. This can reduce costs, prevent downtime and save time your workforce spend on mitigating disruption.
ML, IIoT technologies and AI help your business operate efficiently and maintain productivity with a lean team. For example, instead of a human worker, AI, ML and IIoT sensors can monitor the operational efficiency, energy use, vibrations and temperature of machinery. This enables predictive maintenance, reducing the requirement for costly—and often unnecessary—scheduled maintenance. This can also help maintain optimum machine health, keeping them performing well and extending their lifespan. These technologies can also make workforce safety procedures more efficient, and less reliant on human endeavour. Use sensors and automation to flag when workers aren’t following safety protocols, or alert a supervisor when someone steps into a dangerous or off-limits area.
Investment in innovative, efficiency-boosting smart technologies not only make your business more productive, more resilient and more sustainable—they can report on their own impact and ROI too. AI can provide you with key insights into your manufacturing landscape, facilities, architecture and supply chain. This means that you can see exactly what’s working at its best, what needs to be optimised, and what the impact of any changes or investments are.
Let’s co-innovate and leverage the power of cutting-edge technology. Together we can enable incredible, productivity, efficiency and resilience-based wins across your entire business. We know this because we’ve already done it with other manufacturers. Our industry experts have decades of relevant experience, enabling them to provide practical and effective advice. Then, our global network, computing and security expertise and extensive ecosystem can help you put those technologies into practice. We can help you de-risk transformation, accelerate change and achieve the promise of Industry 4.0.