Month: October 2021

Lean manufacturing aims at truly efficient manufacturing.
With the help of IoT This is achieved by enabling teams and tools to automatically collect data, share it and even interact with information from other data sources, as well as with other processes, opening the organisation's doors to a new way of working.
By accessing and centralising data from equipment and processes, IoT technology is able to provide manufacturers:

• A new level of visibility.
• Access to real-time performance data.
• Instant knowledge of all global operations.
• Possibility to balance and optimise scheduling on the fly, during the production process, adapting to market variability.

Far from simply monitoring throughput, quality or equipment failure records, this new approach has the ability to configure an optimal manufacturing scenario based on current demand. Operations can be successfully completed by making changes to production, processes or facilities to ensure optimal conditions for managing demand at any given time.

But that's not all, the advantages don't end there, because in addition to the typical production scenarios, intelligent equipment will be able to:

• Monitor themselves and improve their own performance, such as energy usage, to avoid peak demand charges. Automated preventive maintenance becomes possible as the machine knows and communicates its own status of required corrective actions, keeping it running at optimal productivity.
• Suppliers can better manage the delivery of parts into inventory, which can be automatically replenished based on real-time data.
• Automatically adjust equipment settings to minimise waste.
• Streamlining production processes. As more companies incorporate new IoT and analytics capabilities, they are transforming their manufacturing processes. Such as predictive maintenance enabled by predictive tools and machine learning, identifying and correcting potential problems before they occur.
• Improving after-sales service. This is another area where lean manufacturing increases its value thanks to IoT. Support is improved thanks to new levels of product connectivity and the information provided by sensors and devices. Manufacturers can effectively collect data from customers in use. And so improve service and support.

The benefits of IoT for lean manufacturing extend far beyond processes within a single organisation. IoT can help optimise the interaction between manufacturers, suppliers and other business partners, improving the flow of information about materials, demand and product usage. At the same time, the internet of things in lean manufacturing is the beginning of a renewed value proposition that only strengthens the bond with the customer and fosters customer loyalty to the brand.