SMIC
Enhancing Operational Transparency with Integrated Process Control
A Smart Factory is a highly digitized and connected production facility that relies on smart manufacturing. It uses interconnected systems and machinery to generate data, often in real time, to improve end-to-end production processes. The factory uses insights from the data to automatically adjust and optimize manufacturing operations, predict problems, and respond to issues and trends.
Smart factories are part of the technological transformation known as Industry 4.0 or the Fourth Industrial Revolution. They use advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to drive automated processes and learn as they go.
Achieving a Smart Factory involves several steps:
1. Digitize Your Plant: Capture manufacturing data.
2. Invest in Technologies: Such as the Industrial Internet of Things, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence.
3. Data Management: Have a system in place that can handle and store this information.
4. Analyze Data: Use a self-service analytics tool to analyze the data.
5. Employee Buy-In: Get buy-in from employees at all levels early in the process.
6. Implement Advanced Technologies: Automation, industrial IoT, cloud computing, and data analytics play a critical role in creating a fully connected smart factory.
By implementing these steps, manufacturers can create a smart factory that increases revenue, reduces costs, improves product quality, provides greater flexibility, and improves responsiveness to customer demands.