Enabling Connected Factories and Exploring Digital Trends for Smart Manufacturing in Industry 4.0

We live in a world where manufacturing is enabled by smart components, which give rise to connected processes that create connected functions and ultimately, a connected enterprise. At the heart of all this is data and the cloud, forging connected enterprises, facilitating decision making at multiple levels and delivering true business value.

In an informative and engaging virtual round-table discussion, Moneycontrol Innovation Next, presented by Google Cloud, explored the theme ‘Manufacturing cloud – the next frontier’. Offering their insights and experiences on the topic, were a host of industry experts, including Dr Pramod Chaudhary, Chairman, Praj Industries; Deepak Singh, Head – Mid Enterprises – Corporate Segment, India and SAARC, Google Cloud; Aniruddha Mehta, CIO, Prince Pipes & Fittings; Sriram Arthanari, General Manager – IT, Cosmo Films; Subrata Roy, Sr. General Manager & Head – IT, Skipper.

They shared unique use cases from their experiences of how technology is enabling enterprises to focus on business outcomes, supporting them as they expand to newer verticals and connect parts in the value chain to offer more products and services to customers.

Aniruddha Mehta observed that technology is pervading businesses and changing the focus from ‘where we do business’ to ‘how we do business’. “With apps and IoT, we get real-time reds or greens thanks to the data coming in. Based on these, real time decisions can be made on the manufacturing line, rather than waiting for a production manager to solve the problem. In fact, technology and platforms enable industry to take preventive rather than corrective action.” He talked about the benefits he had experienced from using image analytics for transportation efficiency solutions too.

As one of the first few cloud adopters in the sector, Sriram Arthanari described how his company benefited in terms of both sales and operation processes by leveraging data. “We were able to use data to create a predictive algorithm that would forecast sales at the overall segment level as well as at the individual SKU level. Through our AI engine, our forecasts were much better from the get-go and kept improving over time too. We are now working on predictive maintenance.”

Many industry players have a mix of both old and new equipment on the shop floor and while monitoring mechanisms are in place, they are not able to predict what can happen. “The challenge is more to do with predictions for older equipment; but that’s where a bulk of the value is too,” he said. “We’ve reached out to Google Cloud and others to figure out how to make the most of the data we have.”

There is no doubt that many manufacturers have advanced considerably on the technology front. Connected devices and processes have also enabled better JIT efficiencies in terms of stocking of raw materials and production of finished goods. However, gaps persist, particularly for those in the SME sector or in remote areas. “In remote locations, the digital divide still exists and seamless connectivity is still a problem. That can be bridged by satellite technology but in India, satellite technology has a lot of bottlenecks; it is very costly and there is a lot of red tape and licensing involved,” Subrata Roy pointed out. He gave the example of JIT in logistics, where even with the best of apps and geo-tracking equipment there are areas with no connectivity. In those locations, visibility breaks down.

On the flip-side, using data, manufacturers have been able to make great progress in their ESG agendas. With vast experience in the domain, Pramod Chaudhary explained, “In recent times, plethora of data and information can be captured and measured. Manufacturing enterprises have been leveraging this data for trouble shooting, remote monitoring, measurement of the performance of a process, etc. They have also been improving ESG parameters in terms of lowering their carbon footprint, affluent discharge, usage of water, enhancing their social impact by raising employee and community metrics. Connected devices and the cloud are playing their part as enablers in all these initiatives.”

From the cloud provider perspective, Deepak Singh concluded that there are three leading aspects to Manufacturing Cloud. Firstly, it can enhance sustainability; secondly, it can improve collaboration and thirdly, using historic data, it can facilitate decisions that deliver better business outcomes. “From better employee safety to prioritizing supply chain and predictive maintenance analytics, we are able to offer cloud-based solutions for a host of activities. Our technology ensures that decision making is not limited to the conference room; it empowers each and every member of the organization to contribute for better outcomes.”

Google has been investing heavily in enablement on the premise that there are different personas and business stakeholders in the manufacturing sector and not everybody is well-versed with new technologies. It has crafted multiple learning paths to take care of every persona within a manufacturing organization. The starting point, however, is always a change in mindset.

As digital transformation is the future, progressive manufacturing enterprises have realized that either they can digitize and flourish, or perish. With a change in mindsets towards accepting IT as an investment, not an expense, India can become a powerful manufacturing hub and achieve Aatmanirbharta though digitization.