Steve Adams, CEO of Lineview, considers how digital transformation and manufacturing intelligence can alleviate the present pressures facing the manufacturing sector.
Manufacturing inefficiencies are costing UK businesses significantly. The sector is facing the perfect storm of critical challenges; intense pressure to reduce costs, urgent demand to improve efficiencies, and investor attention on improving revenues.
Fortunately, accelerated digital transformation is helping the industry adapt to these shifting demands, whilst manufacturing intelligence – facilitated by artificial intelligence (AI) – has become a key enabler in running agile and productive production lines.
Deploying AI capabilities does far more than benefit the performance of a line, of course.
Such intelligence helps manufacturers identify and address subtle but important changes in machine behaviour, for example, before they become business critical problems. To truly capitalise on AI-ready capabilities, you must first ensure a strong data foundation is in place. Every machine has a standard performance pattern, a digital fingerprint, that reflects how it runs when it is operating normally. If a packer runs with a mean time between failure (MTBF) of 45 minutes that drops to 30 minutes, it indicates something has changed. Noticing this before the point of failure is critical. Especially for continuous-flow manufacturing operations, where manufacturers depend on tightly integrated lines with sequential, interdependent processes.
Having access to live and historical data with rapid analysis capabilities is a game-changer in how manufacturers now conduct root cause analysis, alongside predictive analysis, to help factory workers understand what is happening in their production lines, even when comparing multiple sites and geographies. Known as ‘Factory 2030’ – a manufacturing industry vision for the implementation of advanced technologies and processes – this way of working with intelligent data streams leans heavily into the integration of Industry 4.0 technologies – AI, machine learning, and IoT – to optimise production, reduce costs and improve overall efficiency.
To support this movement towards smart-factories we have invested substantially in our own software capabilities to deliver our new cloud platform – Lineview Navigator. Delivered in three modules, Monitor, Review and Analyse, the complete platform bridges the gap between data collection, analysis and execution as every data point is presented into contextualised, prioritised opportunities for improvement, managed via built-in workflows and real-time alerts. Intelligent API connections allow highly accurate line data to integrate across the digital network, and into ERP, SAP, maintenance & warehouse management systems, and it supports live feeds from energy monitoring or condition-based monitoring, meaning that customers can fully integrate the supply chain.
Our customers are increasingly telling us how important a 360 degree insight is. Manufacturing has been operating in ‘rear view mirror’ mode for many decades, historically analysing why a problem occurred & debating how to prevent it happening again. Now, using machine & production line DNA, we can transform manufacturing with data to look forward. This is a major shift in the paradigm, and we continue to advance our work here, looking at how AI can provide detailed context and recommendations based on historical and current performance levels, moving customers from reactive to proactive management. Embracing real-time AI technologies that can support cross-site collaboration, and deliver on productivity and sustainability metrics, also helps operators to agree benchmarks on what good looks like which can be invaluable in such a competitive sector.
Ultimately, the manufacturers combining people, data and technology will be the ones that achieve agile, smart, operations the fastest.
