The ripple effects of operational efficiency
Sustainability and efficiency, simultaneously.
Perception does not necessarily mirror reality when it comes to how sustainability impacts the manufacturing industry. In past decades, many manufacturers would have been reticent to integrate sustainability-focused initiatives into their wider operations due to the perception that they would negatively impact productivity. Sustainability was equated to stopping production or slowing it down to reduce a carbon footprint or lower emissions.
However, the majority of goals that relate to a more sustainable manufacturing mindset directly mirror the same goals a company would have for improving efficiency. The operational drivers of modern manufacturing have scarcely changed from the days of the Industrial Revolution; manufacturers want to increase productivity, maintain product quality, reduce raw material and resource wastage, save energy, and ensure supply chain resilience. All of which are directly linked to more sustainable operations. By viewing sustainability through the lens of efficiency, manufacturers are not changing their targets, they are simply framing them within a more holistic operational approach, one where sustainability and efficiency are targeted simultaneously.
Our response to regulatory requirements and sustainability objectives don’t need to impede production processes or compel manufacturers to halt their machinery. Instead, change makers can aim to achieve heightened productivity targets through maximally efficient means. To attain enhanced efficiency, manufacturers must first enhance their connectivity, beginning with the integration of processes and operations data. Eliminating siloed environments to guarantee comprehensive visibility, ensures that data is readily available, thereby supporting better decision-making.
If you can’t see it, you can’t improve it.
When it comes to the bottom line, optimized processes lead to cost savings. However, this can only be achieved if data relating to these processes is available, accurate, and accessible to relevant parties. After all, decision makers can’t monitor what they can’t see, and if decisions are being made with incomplete or inaccurate data, the likelihood of an error being made increases dramatically.
Typically, manufacturers have worked despite siloed operations as machines operate independently of one another, but this leads to varied outcomes, disjointed data sets, and an inability to visualize an entire operational set up. The ability to capture data in the right places, interpret it correctly, and then act on it with confidence and accuracy is the very definition of end-to-end visibility.
Controlling what is happening on the factory floor starts with having a full understanding of how all the different machines and processes fit together as part of a cohesive operational system. There is a misconception that end-to-end visibility requires an entire factory floor be on one single platform. This is one way to approach it -- but not the only solution as the data itself can be system agnostic. By compiling this data, from disparate systems, into a single data curation and management layer, manufacturing leaders can find the most suitable version of their own manufacturing modernization.
However, the operational ripple effects also permeate out into the wider ecosystem for enhanced supply chain optimization. Controlling what happens on the factory floor is dependent on what happens outside the factory. This could be the flow of materials into a factory, or the eventual distribution of finished goods to the customers. It is this detailed level of connectivity that is the true holy grail of end-to-end visibility, and it is what drives more sustainable, efficient operations.
