Today is Manufacturing Day – focused on highlighting innovation and the future of manufacturing around the United States in order to drive new interest in manufacturing careers. Many manufacturing facilities are opening their doors for tours and Q&A sessions, attracting students, parents, teachers and community leaders, with a spotlight on manufacturing in the digital era.
As Dave Turbide recently shared in Workforce Transformation In The Age of Digital Manufacturing,
“Very little factory work involves repetitive, manual tasks in a noisy, smoky environment. Workers are more likely to be controlling and monitoring machines that do the actual work. And those that do perform manual tasks are likely to be assisted by automation, directed by computer, and reporting their accomplishments and measurements through data collection devices.”
A great deal of modern manufacturing centers around leveraging new technologies, effective operations management and innovations made possible via digital twins and other game changing developments across manufacturing disciplines. On this Manufacturing Day, we thought we’d share our 5 most popular blog posts on the Future of Manufacturing and refresh your thinking as we head into 2020.
The Importance of the Digital Twin
An accurate, complete view of manufacturing systems and their interactions is possible through the digital twin. This information is important for preventative and predictive maintenance, while also allowing managers to monitor equipment in the field with real-time data.
Digital Manufacturing Has Its Head in the Cloud
Learn how the cloud is transforming the factory floor by analyzing vast amounts of data with AI and machine learning. These deep insights can be used to identify trends, respond more rapidly to changing conditions and help leaders make better informed decisions.
What’s the Difference Between a Forecast and a Demand Plan?
A forecast plan is based on mathematical and statistical analysis of past demand, while a demand plan starts with the forecast plan plus taking additional considerations into account such as distribution considerations. Understanding these differences in plans can help business leaders to better communicate to their teams and stakeholders, creating proactive dialogue across the enterprise.
Top 10 Priorities for Operations Managers
Operations managers are on the front lines of interacting with and satisfying multiple internal and external stakeholders. There are so many competing priorities and diverse teams in play that it can be a challenge to know where to focus. Discover how operations managers can foster collaboration and maintain competitive advantage in the factory of the future.
The Digital Twin: Five Things you Need to Know
A digital twin can offer a single source of information that helps to optimize process flow, reduce down times, bring products to market faster and much more. The wealth of data in a manufacturing plant can be harnessed in the digital twin technology for continual improvement.
