As the world rapidly moves towards diversifying its supply chains and reduce its reliance on one country while also battling the new set of norms and processes the manufacturing sector is undergoing a makeover like never before.
The coronavirus pandemic hit the manufacturing industry like the force of spanner flying into the works. With Wuhan emerging as the point of inception and the first epicentre of the virus' spread, global manufacturing and supply chains came screeching halt. Seven months on, the sector faces a whole different set of challenges. Shifting geopolitical tensions and the ongoing restrictions due to the pandemic are fats reshaping the manufacturing sector across the world. Though nowhere is this more evident than in India. Faced with extended lockdowns, migration of workers, reduced shifts, social distancing and the need to innovate and increase operational efficiencies meant factories had to digitalise and fast.
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India has a unique advantage in the digital manufacturing age
India's manufacturing sector was growing on war path, compelled largely by digital technology before the Covid-19 crisis. According to Mckinsey, electronics manufacturing was on path to double their GDP level to $355 - $435 billion by 2025. Despite the coronavirus crisis, India′s manufacturing sector activity improved, touching an over eight-and-a-half-year high supported by accelerated increases in new orders and production according to IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index. But if the country is to achieve PM Modi's dream of becoming the factory of the world, it will need to up its manufacturing game.
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Digital manufacturing can help India meet its Industry 4.0 goals
Globally, the manufacturing sector is rapidly transforming with the onset of digital technologies, IoT and advanced manufacturing like 3D Printing, advanced robotics, new materials like graphene and adoption of industry 4.0 practices across engineering and production shop floors. A sizeable young workforce, majority of which is educated in science and engineering, coupled with a thriving IT industry gives India a unique advantage of being at the forefront of the digital manufacturing age. Besides, digital tech such as mobile connectivity, AI, Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, advanced robotics, additive manufacturing amongst others can help industry become more resilient, build scalability while neutralising the pandemic fallout on production and management systems. How In a recent article, Director of Industrial Sector for IBM India, Venu Juvvala, wrote in order to fully step into Industry 4.0, “manufacturers must recognise the difference between plant-level Operating Technology (OT) and enterprise-level Information Technology (IT) and embrace their convergence.” What this means is that factories and businesses need to provide training and lay out easy to follow procedures to ensure IT processes such as cloud computing and data analytics are integrated within practices on the factory floor.
As with most digital technology, data is key. According to a recent IBM study, of the 1 TB data that factories produce everyday only one percent is analysed. Yet analysing data is key to understanding machines to forecast maintenance. Machine data can also prove invaluable for operations and maintenance teams to analyse and improve production. All in all, digital manufacturing opens up new possibilities for improving manufacturing across the value chain, from suppliers, across the shop floor, and through to customer units in the field. And with the recent reforms opening up FDI and private investment in sectors as diverse as space, defence, food processing and textiles, digitalisation in manufacturing might just be the ticket India needs to finally become the factory of the world.