Manufacturing Success Through Data-Driven Operations
Many manufacturers have faced more change in the last five years than in the previous 20. Increased complexity, competition and a changing environment is putting more pressure on manufacturers to increase agility and flexibility to meet customer demands while operating at higher levels of efficiency and resilience. Digital solutions offer a path to succeed in this environment. Still, they create a growing digital divide between those who can benefit from these solutions now and those who have not started their digitalization journey. Today, Hitachi Vantara proudly announces a range of enhancements to Hitachi’s Lumada Manufacturing Insights, a solution suite that helps manufacturers accelerate their Manufacturing 4.0 journey.
The more you know, the better off you are. But how do you know what you don’t know?
When it comes to manufacturing, knowing more means tapping data-driven insights and visibility across physical assets, processes and systems. By implementing end-to-end solutions that leverage data from machines and sensors, ubiquitous connectivity, sophisticated predictive analytics and AI, manufacturers can harness the kind of operational insights that can optimize production, regardless of ever-changing factors. This level of intelligence helps reduce operational overhead and cost through more accurate forecasting and optimal resource usage.
Hitachi’s Lumada Manufacturing Insights magnifies a manufacturers knowledge by extracting data from industrial equipment and support systems to guide data-driven decision-making. Notable enhancements announced in today’s launch include new functionalities that play key roles in boosting the manufacturing value chain. From modules that increase resiliency through enhanced end-to-end supply chain visibility, to features that source data from multiple points to offer more accurate productivity and maintenance forecasting, and tools that overall increase digitalization on the factory floor, this upgraded suite is packaged for every stakeholder across the value chain in the manufacturing process.
Lumada Manufacturing Insights taps into operational systems and integrates multiple data types, such as machine data, video, audio and vibration to forecast the potential failure of assets to take direct, demand-driven proactive action. Manufacturers can then better predict points of failure and perform preventive maintenance at the right time, reducing downtime and improving output. For example, by applying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), equipment failure prediction in two months can be calculated. That 60-day window provides ample opportunity to schedule the repair during routine downtime and avoids unnecessary production interruptions. Reduced downtime, shipment delays and lower costs increase on-time deliveries and customer satisfaction.
Managing the complexity of your supply chain is an enormous challenge. Changing consumer behaviors as well as a network of suppliers with independent systems and varying degrees of digitalization and connectivity limit your end-to-end visibility in the best of times. As the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent events have proved, supply chains are especially vulnerable during times of disruption. The global business environment is highly connected – volatility in one area quickly impacts others. Highly complex products, demanding customers and leaner inventories require organizations to improve supply chain performance to survive — and thrive. Improving your supply chain resilience and agility is now a business imperative.
