Industry 4.0 technologies were already transforming manufacturers’ operations before the pandemic. With the Covid-19 pandemic halting the global manufacturing ecosystem, digitalization across organizations are taking shape at a striking pace. Now adoption is diverging between technology haves and have-nots. 39% of respondents of IBV’s recent survey said they have implemented a control tower approach to increase end-to-end supply-chain transparency, and around 25% are fast-tracking automation programs to stem worker shortages arising from COVID-19.

“Acceleration” is the watchword. Businesses that embrace agile manufacturing will achieve new levels of productivity by strengthening operational technology with IT innovations. Intelligent plants are created by leveraging potent combinations spanning automation, artificial intelligence (AI), the IoT, edge computing, cloud, 5G, additive manufacturing, and digital twins to transform their operations. Deploying this vast array of technologies is complex and requires both IT and OT skills to architect and execute.

And the results are worth the effort – Intelligent manufacturing can facilitate improvement in production defect detection by as much as 50% and improvement in yield by 20%. By linking innovation and technological automation manufacturers can reduce energy costs, limit waste generation, and lower emissions thereby eliminating risks of consequential environmental damages and enabling sustainable manufacturing.

Organizations need a clear strategy to realize the benefits of intelligent manufacturing. Without crisply defined business objectives for the intelligent factory, ambitious projects can wander into oblivion.

Knowing where an organization is going and what benefits to expect is essential. But to start, management needs to ask: what is the current state of our manufacturing plant?

The Economic Times CXO Roundtable Session Themed Reimagining Manufacturing with Cognitive Capabilities, powered by IBM will lay a roadmap to smart manufacturing enhancing their journeys for Industry 4.0.

The Roundtable Discussion will talk around how to:

• Have a better planning for manufacturing operations
• Improve productivity and performance management
• Increase Asset utilization and efficiency