Manufacturing

The Internet is littered with articles about Industry 4.0. Adoption of digital industrial processes is facilitated when these processes run over wireless infrastructure, but the communications technology must deliver against strict application requirements for performance and reliability.

Manufacturers can contribute to corporate and global sustainability goals by building an intelligent plant to better manage energy, waste, and materials. To accomplish this, they can employ new and better capabilities by doing these key tasks.

At Hannover Messe 2022, Cisco showcased our customer, Leng d-Or. Leng-d’Or is a Spanish multinational food company, supplying nearly 800 customers – 80% of them outside of Spain.  If you are not familiar with the name, you might have tasted its snack foods! Manufacturers and food processors experienced significant disruption because of the global pandemic. Leng-d’Or was no exception. It faced several challenges that could have interrupted its production line.

For over a decade, manufacturing leaders and technology partners like Cisco have worked to accelerate industry 4.0 and digital transformation strategies to deliver business outcomes: operational efficiency, reduced downtime, security resiliency, environmental monitoring and sustainability.

Manufacturing visibility and resiliency offer great promise for manufacturers to optimize business operations and, at the same time, improve customer satisfaction. The golden key to pervasive manufacturing visibility and resiliency lies in the scalable infrastructure that delivers factory data in real time. This "restructuring" of your infrastructure allows your factory to be prepared for anything that can be thrown its way.

Supported by New Supply Chain Architecture, companies can take several immediate steps to prepare for the future by re-imaging their applications, transforming their technology infrastructure to intelligent technologies, and integrating all ecosystem-based supply chains

Unless we are talking about highly automated plants, manufacturing workers will always be on-site and unable to work from remote locations. It makes sense to provide this workforce with the same digital mobility and collaboration tools that office workers have — or risk losing a greater mindshare of next generation of workers.

As the world begins to move into "the new normal" manufacturers are gearing up their factories and plants for operational efficiency while securing their intellectual and physical property for the future and I couldn't be more excited to witness this evolution.

Manufacturers can contribute to corporate and global sustainability goals by building an intelligent plant to better manage energy, waste, and materials.