This blog
is a MESA
Member Point of View.
By Mikes
James, Chairman, MESA International Board of Directors
Let's discuss
what the word ’smart’ really means in relation to today’s advanced world of
manufacturing.
The tag
‘smart’ was first assigned to phones and now every man and his dog uses it to
describe their product. But what does ‘smart’ really mean? How do manufacturers
know that the hardware or software they are buying is actually smart? Does it
really matter?
It turned out that these questions are harder to answer than they first appear. With this in mind, we put them to our panel of experts at MESA International. The Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association is a global organisation of manufacturers, software suppliers and system integrators. MESA’s Smart Manufacturing Committee, forgive the pun, is made up of more than 35 very smart manufacturing experts globally. As a member of this committee, I watched, listened and contributed as we produced our first whitepaper over a period of nine months (with a second coming out shortly).
We looked at the smartphone with its primary characteristics being: an IoT device; fixed hardware; updatable software; and wonderful functional flexibility through apps. Could we ever imagine something like this on the plant floor? Industry 4.0 calls for the individualisation of mass produced products, so creating a smart factory – and therefore smart products – is definitely necessary. Much like a smartphone, a factory could be changed overnight with new software. But is that enough?
It turned out that these questions are harder to answer than they first appear. With this in mind, we put them to our panel of experts at MESA International. The Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association is a global organisation of manufacturers, software suppliers and system integrators. MESA’s Smart Manufacturing Committee, forgive the pun, is made up of more than 35 very smart manufacturing experts globally. As a member of this committee, I watched, listened and contributed as we produced our first whitepaper over a period of nine months (with a second coming out shortly).
We looked at the smartphone with its primary characteristics being: an IoT device; fixed hardware; updatable software; and wonderful functional flexibility through apps. Could we ever imagine something like this on the plant floor? Industry 4.0 calls for the individualisation of mass produced products, so creating a smart factory – and therefore smart products – is definitely necessary. Much like a smartphone, a factory could be changed overnight with new software. But is that enough?
The answer is
yes and no. Providing the physical process is made up of flexible,
reprogrammable (on the fly) machines and robots, we could definitely get smart.
The difference lies in the physical processes. Endless flexibility is not
feasible and the investment in flexible manufacturing is high. So when
designing the smart factory and the smart supply chain, we must define the
limits of our expectations. Those expectations must challenge the limits of
today’s smart technology – both software and machines must play together in a
smart manufacturing world.
Photo source: world's dumbest by
dickuhne (CC BY 2.0).
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