The pressure is on for manufacturing companies to stay competitive, by implementing digital solutions, but many company bosses are not sure where to start. Some companies are facing customer demands such as, improved traceability through supply chains or quality assurance. In some instances, these requests go alongside a call for the use of Industry 4.0 technologies.
If manufacturers can engage in digital transformation there are many benefits. Digital technologies allow companies to analyse their factory operations and extract useful data. It’s then possible for human or automated decisions to be made that lead to productivity improvements.
It’s not always easy for companies to take the leap and start using digital manufacturing technologies. One block to progress is that a lot of data is still being collected manually and stored on spreadsheets. Factory systems are often not integrated with office systems, making it impossible for companies to use software to assess the efficiency of existing kit on the factory floor. This disconnect means that there will be a variety of views from supervisors about what’s going on, making it difficult to make smart decisions. Other barriers include the cost and time of implementing new systems, a lack of computing skills and IT support and legacy kit that doesn’t have the right sensors to enable a business to measure and collect data.
Many manufacturers are put off by these challenges and concerned about the high cost of buying and embedding some of the expensive enterprise solutions currently available on the market, but support is available. WMG’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult team has developed a retrofit solution that enables companies to start to apply digital manufacturing approaches in a staged way, with minimal disruption.
| 
