Why Smart Manufacturing and Improving OEE Must Go Hand in Hand
Smart manufacturing strategies and solutions are helping organizations across sectors stay competitive in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace. Digital, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies are simplifying real-time collection and analysis of essential manufacturing data, information that is helping to boost productivity, improve product quality and enhance operational agility across the value stream.
Why Today’s Manufacturers Must Invest in Smart Manufacturing
Smart manufacturing is a growing trend that shows no signs of stopping. Across industries, digital technologies and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions are transforming the shop floor from traditional linear operations to interconnected systems that communicate, adapt, collect, exchange and analyze data. These solutions are helping organizations boost production, improve efficiency and increase cost-savings, while simultaneously reducing unplanned downtime, part setup time, required system maintenance, and more.
How to Improve OEE with Smart Manufacturing Technologies
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines “smart manufacturing” as “fully-integrated, collaborative manufacturing systems that respond in real time to meet changing demands and conditions in the factory, in the supply network, and in customer needs.” In short, smart manufacturing is the optimization of every aspect of the value stream via interconnected solutions that facilitate automation, real-time monitoring, and continuous data analysis to increase efficiency and productivity.
Advanced Technologies and the North American Manufacturing Landscape
The technology landscape for North American manufacturers continues to grow more complex as new automated, smart technologies are introduced at a rapid pace. Automated, smart technologies are helping manufacturers keep step with this fluctuating marketplace, enabling them to maximize cost, delivery, flexibility, and quality via interconnected solutions that promote rapid flow and widespread use of digital information within and between manufacturing systems.
What we learned at IMTS 2018
FREEDOM™ demonstrated its growing, connected IIoT Smart Manufacturing Platform at IMTS 2018. More than 2,500 manufacturers brought their latest and greatest technologies to Chicago, Illinois. It was a record-breaking year for registrations, square feet of exhibit space, exhibiting companies, and booths.
How Smart Manufacturing Software Benefits the Medical Manufacturing Sector
The competitive and highly regulated medical sector is one of the fastest growing segments of today’s manufacturing marketplace. This rapid growth requires smart management—of assets, budgets, processes and more.
How Smart Manufacturing Software Can Improve Efficiency
To thrive in today’s competitive manufacturing environment, you need to ensure optimal performance of assets while continuously increasing efficiency and reducing costs.
To improve processes, you must be able to measure in real-time what is working and what isn’t. Outdated data or a lack of current data can add to a growing performance problem, putting productivity, efficiency, and profitability at risk.
Your factory floor is an excellent example of where you should be continually capturing and analyzing data.
How Automation is Reshaping Manufacturing
Over the past decade, the manufacturing industry moved from reactive to predictive data analysis to monitor equipment, extend asset lifecycles and manage overall profitability. Today, the future is trending toward the use of advanced analytics applications that enable manufacturers to intelligently meet increased demand for customized products created at affordable mass-production costs while improving operational efficiency and overall productivity. Are you keeping pace with this shift?
Why Collecting and Analyzing Data Is a Must for Improving Productivity
Collecting and analyzing data is crucial to ensuring long-term productivity and sustainability of operations. Detailed manufacturing metrics from machine monitoring software facilitate the optimization of shop-floor assets, improve overall productivity, and protect the bottom line.
Without this critical information, manufacturers cannot identify which aspects of an asset’s operational efficiency and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)—availability, performance, and quality—are lagging. As a result, companies fail to identify where inefficiencies and bottlenecks may be occurring, placing valuable production time and money at risk.
