Automation is changing our world in a wide variety of ways. In manufacturing we have been dealing with the wave of automation for quite a long time. Taking advantage of the new technology can be very difficult and expensive without some smart direction and a clear goal. Automation can be an incredible boost to productivity but it can also over complicate simple process. The magic is finding the right balance of automation for your workflow and Horizon is helping by giving us a great tool kit to work from.
The concept of a Smart Factory has been something that Horizon has been focused on for a while. We attended the Smart Factory expo in Kyoto Japan in 2019. Unfortunately the 2020 and 2021 events were canceled due to world events. However, work never stopped at Horizon and that gap in time has made for some exciting announcements.
Thinking outside of the box is a key part of optimizing a factory. It can take a huge amount of observation and time studies to identify the real places where time is lost. We can also learn from the experience of others. Factories vary a lot but they also have some common elements that they all share. Optimizing these elements is a sure way to bring a permanent shot of adrenaline into a production site. A smart factory will live in this mode of operation all the time.
What Makes a Factory Smart?
Automation is one thing but what makes a factory truly smart? This is a great question because it really gets into the real theory behind a smart factory. Automation is important but rather straightforward. Being smart about that automation is not as simple, sometimes being smart requires making a decision about which way is better. Automation and smart decision making work together to create a truly optimized production site.
Smart factories will continuously be optimizing their routines. By tracking, recording, analyzing, and reacting to that information a producer can incrementally improve their operation. Often times these major changes require little to no investment. Decisions about how and when to do things can have just as much impact as implementing some new expensive process.
