The world as we see, is changing. So is the Manufacturing industry, that is heading dynamically into different directions, and helping it keep pace with the changing needs of a struggling economy is technology. The driving force of any economy is its robust manufacturing industry; and our Make in India campaign is gearing at making our country the world’s finest manufacturing hub. With technology seeping into the expanse of both domestic and multinational manufacturing units, it is essential to know how some technologies are changing the face of manufacturing in ways unimaginable. These technologies are creating speed, precision, efficiency and flexibility.

Here are 6 latest technological interventions in the manufacturing sector that can help scale up the operational efficiency:

Inventory Management

A streamlined inventory Management system is pivotal to ensuring smooth running of operations. A good inventory management system has the potential to make or break a business in general and manufacturing industry in particular. In addition to improving the overall accuracy of orders, it creates an organised warehouse, reduces defects and lead time considerably.

When even a bit of extra inventory can lead to huge losses, long lead times, and quality issues, it is important to invest in lean manufacturing and incorporate six sigma to streamline inventory management. Six Sigma is used to identify specific complicated issues in the process that cause defects and delays by using statistical methods. Additionally lean manufacturing, as the name suggests, uses fewer resources, less capital and minimized inventory to achieve defect-free products. Using these two principles to achieve optimum inventory management depends largely on the specific needs of the industry. However, most manufacturing units are using lean manufacturing to streamline inventory and six sigma to reduce variations in processes to their advantage.

Vendor Management

Vendor management is a highly time consuming and resource consuming process. Sourcing raw materials, contracting vendors and monitoring them continuously is a huge task that has to be done perfectly every single time.

Every organization depends on vendors in order to function well. However, managing vendors optimally is a huge task in itself. A good vendor management application helps you keep track of your suppliers, manage inventory, conserve time, costs and labour. By acting as a repository of information, a VMS helps businesses make important decisions regarding vendors based on their performance. It helps identify, mitigate and manage risks by tracking and measuring performance trends of your suppliers. In addition to ensuring contract compliance, VMS also has performance metrics in place that can assess deliverables.

Good vendor management systems help businesses evaluate supplier’s credibility, their technological competence, financial stability, understand their procurement strategy, review their supply chain and delivery process.

Payroll Management

Payroll is an integral part of every industry; however the manufacturing industry comes with its own set of payroll issues to deal with. To tackle such large groups of employees, it is important to have seamless integration of worker attendance/time and payroll. Moreover, having cloud based payroll system that is integrated with HR is also possible.

A pain point for the manufacturing business is dealing with multi-users operating from multiple locations. Payroll management system has the ability to import employee work details and time/attendance schedules from various locations. It also allows businesses to have any number of employees, with a variety of pay groups, deductions, taxes and other benefits.

Logistics/Supply chain management

Every business, and especially a small scale manufacturing unit, is looking to reduce costs. Supply chain management software are used to forecast future demands, accurately identify present production and supply status, and help in identifying demand supply gap. With the help of sensors, supply chain managers can now accurately and with pin point precision effectively identify possible issues at every stage of the supply chain.

Cloud based technology in supply chain management is going to play a pivotal role in defining how manufacturing units fare in the coming years. Cloud adoption has seen a whopping 28% each passing year for the manufacturing industry. For start-ups and small scale business owners, who find it difficult to invest in in-house ERP systems, SAAS and cloud technology is helping them state in front of the competition.

Additionally, supply chain is also going to see driver less vehicles and drone technology in a large-scale soon. Technology embedded into the driver less trucks and drones can give accurate information on the exact location of the goods, delivery time and status of the goods, and reduce manual labour.

Compliance management

Compliance management brings in two sets of parameters to satisfy – one is quality and the other is regulatory compliance. Automating manufacturing compliance will make sure that quality is built into the product from the very beginning. Product quality conformance at every stage of production will ensure that production time is not lost in rectifying errors, labour is not wasted and money is not spent unnecessarily. Web based compliance applications are making sure that performance parameters are met at every stage of production, quality benchmarks are drawn up and adhered to, reaction time is reduced, and internal audits are done regularly.

Addition to this, these tools or web applications, also help in generating real-time reports, send notifications when products are deviating from standard, offer root cause investigation, and track and audit performance accurately.

Asset management

The value of assets in a manufacturing industry increases when the asset is closely connected with the value stream. It is important for businesses, especially small businesses, to focus on driving operational priorities and asset management strategies towards increasing asset value. Define asset performance using KPI, performance rate, maintenance cost, and more.

In order to increase equipment value and uptime, it is important to automate the maintenance and asset management process. There are software tools available that help run customizable reports, analysis cost and prepare budgets, manage the entire inventory, monitoring the condition of the assets, provide multi asset tracking facility, and understand the entire asset life cycle.

In a world consumed with pressures from a pandemic, it is now the best time to rely heavily on technological advancements to increase operational efficiency and productivity to meet immediate consumer needs. Only then can the manufacturing industry ride the tide of change. In order to get more tech ideas, contact our experts at Pixel Studios! Our team uses statistical models, reports and analysis to help business owners make informed decisions. Take this decision to contact us, and get better insight into your business.
Originally published Aug 17, 2016 18:01:00 PM, updated Jun 11 2020

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