5 Key Technologies That Will Change the Face of Manufacturing [In 2021]

If I have to pick an industry that is constantly evolving over the past few years, it is Manufacturing. Especially, after the COVID pandemic, manufacturers are trying out every possible option to digitize their existing processes for faster and substantial growth.

Digitization is fine. But what technologies should you invest in to take your business to the next level? Well, this could be tricky.

Digital investments are expensive and investing in all possible technologies to better your process won't help you as a manufacturer, and can burn a hole in your pocket. It's all about investing in the right technology at the right time for increasing your productivity, streamlining processes and managing resources better.

Are you in a dilemma over selecting the best technology that works for your manufacturing unit? You're not alone. This post will empower you with the 5 key technologies you can invest in for increasing your overall manufacturing productivity and performance.

Industrial IoT

Imagine the existing manufacturing ecosystem with manual or semi automated processes and workflows.  Lack of data accuracy and siloed data will make the decision making job of manufacturing heads demanding. Managing most extensive processes like assets, machines, resources will be expensive and requires continuous human work. With so much effort put into the process, it's hard to strategize and execute business improvement plans.

"The global IoT in manufacturing market size is expected to grow from USD 33.2 billion in 2020 to USD 53.8 billion in 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.1% during the forecast period." – MarketsandMarkets

With IoT in manufacturing, the entire process will be a breeze. As these advanced devices can be fixed on different machines and on assets, managing them is simple and accurate. The real-time data from IoT devices is a boon for manufacturers to make powerful and sensible decisions quickly and efficiently.

Benefits of IoT

• Real-time data

• Easy to install

• Better decision making

• Accurate and efficient

• 24/7 use

Artificial Intelligence

Machine maintenance without automation is extremely strenuous and exorbitant process. Even planned maintenance won't be effective for most organizations and they would be some serious money when it is needed. Ensuring the machine maintenance is performed diligently and at lower costs matters and this is the reason why most companies are investing in advanced technologies like AI.

"The AI in manufacturing market is expected to be valued at USD 1.1 billion in 2020 and is likely to reach USD 16.7 billion by 2026; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 57.2% during the forecast period." – MarketsandMarkets

The combination of AI with IoT, mobile app and Cloud can do wonders to your business. When it comes to predictive maintenance, syncing AI with IoT, mobile applications and cloud would help your foresee machine problems, efficiency challenges, expensive maintenance costs.

Benefits of Ai

• Lower operational costs

• Quick decision making

• Increased efficiency

• Improved safety

• Improve production quality

Cloud computing

While IoT helps in connecting the objects within a plant, Cloud ensures the connection of different plants. A major problem for manufacturers is data management. IoT helps in garnering data from every machine, humans and managing the entire data is often challenging and troublesome.

"In 2019, the global Cloud Computing market size was USD 62730 million and it is expected to reach USD 383780 million by the end of 2026, with a CAGR of 29.2% during 2021-2026." – Marketwatch

With Cloud computing, managing a huge volume of data under one roof is highly easy and possible. With this technology, processing data quickly and arriving at better decisions is amazingly easy.

Benefits of cloud computing

• Maximum efficiency

• Faster data processing

• Improved data management

• Minimized costs

Robotic Process Automation

Manufacturing staff have to check, organize and manage different kinds of assets and orders across departments' every day. Most of these tasks are mundane and repetitive. Performing these processes manually not only consumes a lot of time but also reduces accuracy. Man-made errors are quite common and automation is the best way out.

"Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Market is estimated to reach USD 2,467.0 million by 2022, at a CAGR of 30.14% between 2017 and 2022." – MarketsandMarkets

Investing in Robotic Process Automation will not only expedite their process but also ensures improved accuracy. The bots can take care of the routine, mundane and repetitive tasks without any difficulty and 100% accuracy. With such a system in place, data capturing processes will be simplified and improved staggeringly. In fact, RPA has completely transformed the manufacturing landscape and reduced a lot of resource costs and operational time.

• Optimize time-centric and routine processes

• Increase go-to-market speed

• Maximize productivity

• Reduce resource cost

• Improve data accuracy

• Increase operation agility

Mobile Applications

With many manufacturers still focusing on manual operations, capturing data instantly on the go was difficult and every time they have to record data manually from the device on a specific location. There are areas where humans can't invade and capturing those data won't be that easy. Mitigating this problem is important and automation is the best way out.

"The mobile enterprise application market expected to grow from USD 48.24 Billion in 2016 to USD 98.03 Billion by 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.24% from 2016 to 2021." – MarketsandMarkets

Mobile applications are highly useful in this scenario. With applications, your manufacturing staff can capture any data from a device from any location and anywhere. The data can be accessed and shared with others on the go and this saves a lot of time. In addition, coupling the mobile applications with future technologies like AI and IoT further improves the benefits for manufacturers.

Benefits of mobile apps

• Increased employee productivity

• Simpler resource management

• 100% Accuracy

• Quick decision making

• On the go data access

• Easier data access and share

Conclusion

Smart manufacturing companies have started to leverage the power of all the above technologies and many CEOs, CTOs will be investing in these technologies this year. If beating the growing competition and satisfying the customers are the top agenda for you, investing in the top technologies is the smart option to accomplish that.