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resilience

June 11 2024

Manufacturing Evolution Over Last Five Years

k999content Blog COVID-19, manufacturing, resilience, supply chain, upskilling 0

The manufacturing industry has undergone significant transformation over the past five years, marked by technological advancements, shifting global dynamics, and evolving consumer preferences. From the rise of Industry 4.0 to the challenges posed by geopolitical uncertainties and the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturers have navigated a rapidly changing landscape. In this blog, we delve into key trends and developments that have shaped the manufacturing sector over the last half-decade, highlighting both challenges and opportunities that have emerged.

Embrace of Industry 4.0 Technologies

Industry 4.0 Technologies

The past five years have witnessed a widespread adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies across the manufacturing sector. From advanced robotics and automation to Internet of Things (IoT) devices and artificial intelligence (AI), manufacturers have embraced digital transformation to enhance efficiency, productivity, and flexibility. Smart factories equipped with interconnected systems and data analytics capabilities have revolutionized production processes, enabling real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and agile manufacturing.

Reshoring and Supply Chain Resilience

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, prompting many manufacturers to reconsider their sourcing strategies. Over the last five years, there has been a trend towards reshoring and nearshoring as companies seek to mitigate risks associated with disruptions and strengthen post-pandemic supply chains. Building resilience into supply chains through diversification, localization, and closer collaboration with suppliers has become a priority for manufacturers looking to enhance agility and responsiveness to market fluctuations.

Sustainability and Circular Economy

Environmental sustainability has emerged as a key focus area for the manufacturing industry in recent years. With increasing awareness of climate change and resource scarcity, manufacturers are embracing sustainable practices to minimize environmental impact and meet regulatory requirements. The concept of the circular economy, which aims to reduce waste and maximize resource efficiency through recycling and reuse, has gained traction within the manufacturing sector. Companies are investing in eco-friendly technologies such as heat induction bending services, renewable energy sources, and closed-loop systems to minimize waste generation and carbon emissions.

Resilience Amidst Disruptions

The manufacturing industry has faced numerous disruptions over the past five years, including trade tensions, natural disasters, and the COVID-19 pandemic. These disruptions have underscored the importance of resilience and adaptability in manufacturing operations. Heavy steel fabrication companies that have invested in digitalization, supply chain visibility, and risk management have been better equipped to weather the storm and pivot swiftly in response to changing market conditions. The ability to anticipate and mitigate risks will continue to be critical for manufacturers in the years ahead.

Skills Gap and Workforce Development

As manufacturing becomes increasingly digitized and automated, there is a growing need for a skilled workforce capable of leveraging advanced technologies. However, a widening skills gap has been a challenge facing the metal fabrication industry, with shortages of workers trained in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines and digital skills. Over the last five years, manufacturers have ramped up efforts to address this challenge through investments in workforce training, apprenticeship programs, and partnerships with educational institutions. Building a talent pipeline equipped for the demands of modern manufacturing will be essential for future growth and innovation.

Closing Comments

The past five years have been transformative for the manufacturing industry, characterized by technological innovation, supply chain disruptions, and a heightened focus on sustainability and resilience. As manufacturers navigate the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly evolving landscape, adaptability, agility, and forward-thinking will be key to driving success in the years to come. By embracing digitalization, prioritizing sustainability, and investing in talent development, manufacturers can position themselves for continued growth and competitiveness in an ever-changing global marketplace.

Balanced scorecard vector concept metaphor

February 20 2024

Optimizing Performance With Asset Resilience

k999content Blog asset, automation, digital, iot, manufacturing, resilience 0

To state the obvious, the digital world has arrived. 48% of organizations are now digital, having moved from the act of digitally transforming organizations to operating a digital business. This translates to running a business at scale and transferring much of the people resource to technology. Upcoming innovations like Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, computer vision/remote visual inspection, and even AI/Industrial voice interfaces, when integrated or embedded in modern cloud-based enterprise asset management (EAM) technologies, can help an organization scale and address all segments of the asset life cycle. This blog will look to deep dive deeper into this interesting topic.

Real-Time Sensing

In the digital world, asset resilience requires a focus on real-time oversight and data with, responsive maintenance and workflows that identify and resolve anomalies before the business is impacted. This is underscored with modern cloud-based innovative EAM technologies that can help manage your assets, including asset inventory, helping to set acceptable levels of service, and reducing manufacturing cycle times. With this level of monitoring, maintenance, and asset portfolio overview, the organization can achieve its planned productivity gains and operational efficiencies with greater visibility and control. Some organizations use EAM systems to track production supplies and purchases, while others use it to balance operational requirements against maintenance needs, finding the right time to perform regularly scheduled maintenance activities against production schedules, which increases peak performance runtime and asset availability. These examples automate more workflows, increase operating efficiencies for processes like heat induction bending services, curtail human errors, and reduce unplanned downtime and outages.

In addition, EAM technologies support sustainability objectives because assets and data are connected across the enterprise, enabling greater monitoring of sustainability goals and compliance to asset monitoring as part of business process integration. In addition, when an asset has reached its end-of-life stage in the business, the organization can start to plan for newer equipment while selling the old asset with intact records and suggested monitoring and maintenance for the new buyer. The asset life cycle can then come full circle.

Economic Value of Asset Resilience

In today’s economic environment, managing and controlling spend is critical to profitability. Spending money on nonessential maintenance, buying new assets because they have begun their useful life, and even procuring extra maintenance inventory “just in case” existing mining plant and equipment goes bad — all that eats away profitability. In the digital world, organizations should leverage EAM technology to the fullest so they can maximize their asset investment portfolios, account for the assets overall, bring insights into asset performance while monitoring for and scheduling preventive maintenance, and ensure the organization stays productive while optimizing asset utilization at peak performance.

EAM technologies deliver the following measurable benefits:

Savings in maintenance costs and time with the tracking of assets
Operational efficiencies resulting in longer runtimes
Improved uptime of equipment with monitoring and maintenance
Improved customer experience

These economic value-adds also reduce the angst within the business over asset performance and improve asset resiliency while providing greater transparency so course corrections happen immediately. Organizations can monitor and maintain asset performance regardless of economic conditions.

Finishing Touches

Today, technology plays a more significant role, as organizations seek to leverage as many advantages as possible. Previously, employees were more involved in the operation and maintenance of enterprise assets. But with digital transformation, technology has taken on much of this work, with 24/7 oversight, alerts, and automated workflows. It is now clear that Innovative cloud EAM technology is a win-win that organizations need to invest in to thrive in the digital world. Digital is no longer a vague buzzword, it is here and now – and organizations need to adapt to thrive!