Smart Factories: The Inevitable Future of the Manufacturing Sector
What do we mean by Paperless Factory?
Let's start by understanding the value of paperwork in the manufacturing sector.
Currently, papers are part of any advanced manufacturing process where they always travel with the work order in parallel. However, when dealing with ample amounts of data, manually entering them would be prone to errors and costly. And here comes the "Smart Factory" or "Paperless Factory" model, which helps eliminate paperwork in manufacturing.
Smart manufacturing focuses on automation, machine learning, and real-time data, resulting in massive productivity gains and corporate value gains. Powered by the Internet of Things, it uses data and analytics to improve the productivity of the manufacturing process; it provides unprecedented access to the entire process, contributing to the overall value chain.
However, many businesses still rely on conventional methods and operations. Digitizing these operations is the first step towards smart manufacturing solutions.
Let's start by understanding the value of paperwork in the manufacturing sector.
Currently, papers are part of any advanced manufacturing process where they always travel with the work order in parallel. However, when dealing with ample amounts of data, manually entering them would be prone to errors and costly. And here comes the "Smart Factory" or "Paperless Factory" model, which helps eliminate paperwork in manufacturing.
Smart manufacturing focuses on automation, machine learning, and real-time data, resulting in massive productivity gains and corporate value gains. Powered by the Internet of Things, it uses data and analytics to improve the productivity of the manufacturing process; it provides unprecedented access to the entire process, contributing to the overall value chain.
However, many businesses still rely on conventional methods and operations. Digitizing these operations is the first step towards smart manufacturing solutions.
Why Paperless Manufacturing?
Paper vs Paperless
Without any doubt, I can say that the paper does have some advantages; it can be used almost anywhere without requiring an internet connection or power supply. It does not change like digital hard drives, and if properly stored, it can last for a very long time without any issues, which is why many companies still consider paper a permanent record.
However, there are some major disadvantages and drawbacks, such as the fact that only one person can read the paper at a time. Paper can easily be lost or copied, but it becomes a more difficult and significant problem when important documents such as ISO, IATF, and AS9100 need to be prevented from being lost or copied. These documents are mandated by the industry. Believe me, the loss or misplacing of papers happens quite frequently on the company's premises. Also, the content or information can be altered or deleted.
Some more points to be discussed are:
1) The costliness and inefficiency of the Paper:
Per one survey, an average of 48 minutes is spent daily retrieving information from paper documents. This was time that could have been spent on something productive.
Companies store millions and millions of records of manufacturing-related data/information. Let's say we have a minor problem with the process and need particular information about it that we noted in one paper. How are we going to find that information immediately? Okay, let's assume we found the document as well, but once that paper document is finally found, there is usually an extensive manual search within the document to find the required information.
Paper records are tedious to manage, which impacts the "manufacturing process" and slows it down. Managing paper files costs much more than we expect, and there have been "hidden costs" of paper in manufacturing.
2) The non-scalability of the Paper:
It may be possible to maintain papers for a single unit or plant in the factory, but it is extremely difficult for an entire organization. As processes expand for an organization, the maintenance of records on paper and maintaining their standardization become a hassle.
3) Paper does not have the Version Control:
The meaning? Version control is a system and a practice that records changes to a file or set of files over time so that you can recall specific versions later. A paper or document will pass through many hands before we have a final version of that document. So, version control becomes nearly impossible with manual paper documents. This can cause regulatory issues, especially in industries where certain standards must be maintained.
The only solution is a "Paperless Factories": It’s time to ditch the paper!
The digital revolution (i.e., Industry 4.0) is already here and we need more and more manufacturers to use IIoT (Industrial IoT) solutions to continuously collect manufacturing information, i.e., real-time, digital data, to replace much of the manual reporting and human intervention. Software-based systems such as Cosmos digiFAC, which collect data automatically from manufacturing processes, make information easily accessible in the form of dashboards and allow for quick information retrieval. To keep the data accurate and centralized, when operators are required to enter the data, they can use computers and mobile devices instead of paper.
The paperless factory model connects every component of the shop floor to the manufacturing ecosystem, improves quality control and production efficiency, and also helps to lower costs. Also, scalability is a big advantage here. In the case of paperless systems, there is only one source to retrieve the existing information. In real-time, data can be recorded and shared to have "real version control." In short, the data are audit-ready.
The future of Paperless Manufacturing
The elimination of paper in manufacturing is just the first step of the digital revolution. The next step in this advancement is more than just going "paperless." Transferring physical media into the digital domain, an essential but critical element of our digitalized (smart) factory, signifies a far more significant and fundamental change. The future of "paperless manufacturing" entails much more than simply eliminating paper from it.
Nowadays, new software solutions, such as Cosmos digiFAC have the dual benefits of sophisticated software and IIoT-based sensors that store, track, and manage production progress and vital quality data, which effectively eliminates manual handling and makes it obsolete.