The Wave of the Future
Industry 4.0 introduces the Smart Factory which aims at increasing efficiencies through a way that minimizes the damage to resources. Disruptive business models and processes are being thought of every day, which ensures that not only is it Smart, but is also Sustainable.
sustainable Manufacturing has been defined as “a systematic approach to eliminating waste by optimizing use and selection of resources and technologies, thereby lessening the impact on the environment.” While there is no such thing as the ultimate sustainable factory, the goal should be to constantly upgrade and improve the current practices to ensure environmental and social responsibility. Most companies are already familiar with the Triple Bottom Line Concept. According to this concept, besides economic performance, organizations must also focus on its environmental and social performance and be held accountable to various stakeholders, to be truly sustainable.
The time is now
With cleaner production, there are many opportunities for cost savings and other financial benefits for companies. Sustainable manufacturing is a gradual process but only if companies begin to implement it today, will there be a significant improvement for the future.
Basic changes: It begins with improvements in work practices and maintenance. These could be as simple as better inventory management, better monitoring and scheduling of the production process, reducing loss from leaks, spillage, and drag-out, and proper maintenance of equipment.
Process optimization: The next step would be to make adjustments to processes and increase efficiency. Process optimization involves changing manufacturing process to minimize waste, conserve raw materials, and capture and reuse waste materials
Raw material substitution: This is a challenging step, go back to the drawing board and shift to more environmentally sound inputs. Find ways to substitute hazardous materials, chemicals with high environmental or health impacts, materials that are non-renewable, or those that are scarce with greener materials. Eliminating materials that are considered hazardous can also help avoid regulatory costs associated with storage and disposal of materials.
New technologies: Understand and upgrade to current systems and processes. Incorporate more environmentally responsible technologies and equipment that enable lower resource consumption, waste generation, and emissions. This would involve certain capital investments which would showcase return on investment gradually.
New product design: This is the most difficult step of the process. It is time to redesign the product to be greener from the ground up. This helps minimize impacts throughout the product lifecycle.
Predictive maintenance
The two key elements associated with Sustainable Manufacturing would be Elimination of Waste and Optimal Utilization of Resources. These two elements resonate with the Smart Factory, as the two biggest advantages are Predictive Maintenance and Asset Utilisation. A true smart factory integrates data from the network of physical, operational, and human assets, and drives the manufacturing process from inventory tracking, digitization of operations to maintenance. It usually comes together with the right integration of Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The Elimination of Waste translates to Predictive Maintenance. Analysts have found that downtime can cost an average factory between 5 and 20 percent of its productive capacity. Unscheduled maintenance and repairs on assets can send ripples throughout the supply chain. Sometimes, when there is one machine failure, the others connected in the process also become idle. This involves extra man hours to be put into this process, which may also cause delays in other processes. There is also a possibility of wastage of resources. Faulty machines also lead to faulty output which adds to the waste. Essentially, being able to prevent downtime or the need for maintenance would eliminate all these issues.
With predictive maintenance, significant reductions in unplanned downtime can save millions of dollars and ensure that there is no wastage of time, man-hours or resources. It eliminates the need to shut down for service on a periodic basis, enabling technicians to monitor things like vibration, heat and energy usage to understand what‘s going on deep inside complex machinery.
Asset utilization
The second element is Optimal Utilization of resources. For a Smart Factory, this translates to Asset Utilization. Factories rarely function at 100 percent productivity. Through continuous improvement of systems and processes, there can be a momentary boost in productivity, which usually declines due to wear and tear of the machine. A business achieves economies of scale when it is able to work efficiently for a long period of time. This can only happen when assets are being utilized effectively, which could be machinery or human resources. Sometimes, not all machines are used all the time which means there is an idle machine consuming electricity and resources to maintain just to be kept in the factory for when it is required. Here, monitoring the asset and assigning tasks accordingly will ensure that it can function at the highest level of productivity.
Asset Utilization and monitoring can be done on a real-time basis with IoT application. Copious amounts of data can be mined to understand to what extent each machine is being used, which machines are being overused and which ones are lying idle at times. This information is holistic as it is aggregated from across all systems in every geographical location. Using this information, Machine Learning can identify relationships and patterns between machines and provide solutions to the issues. Certain monotonous tasks in a process done by one machine can be automated and transferred to others while the more complicated tasks can continue to be done by the original machine, thus reducing the burden. Besides that, ML can also inform the decision maker on which machines are idle for certain hours in the day,
which can either be used to ease an existing process or even rented out to continue to generate revenue.
Resources are precious
Every industrial revolution is faced with the challenge to meet the continuously growing worldwide demand for resources. However, it cannot be detrimental to the future generations. Industry 4.0 introduces the Smart Factory which aims at increasing efficiencies through a way that minimizes the damage to resources. Disruptive business models and processes are being thought of every day which ensures that not only is it Smart, but is also Sustainable.
Kalyan Sridhar
Country Manager
PTC India
sumalik@ptc.com
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