Smart Manufacturing and Digital Continuity to Provide More Visibility in Factories of the Future

Manufacturers to Shift Focus from Products to Customer Experiences as the Industry Becomes Connected on Data Threads, Finds Frost & Sullivan

The disruption in manufacturing value networks caused by the convergence of sensing, simulation, algorithms, cloud, and analytics is spawning new business models. Linear forms of manufacturing are giving way to circular and bi-directional models, which is resulting in a connected and an information-driven manufacturing ecosystem. Meanwhile, technological advancements such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), digital twins, and cyber-physical production systems are shifting manufacturers’ focus from siloed assets to digital platform solution offerings. They are increasingly combining physical functioning manufacturing with virtual planning and simulation to create new customer experiences.

Frost & Sullivan’s latest thought leadership paper, Inspiring Manufacturing Transformation in the Digital Era, guides manufacturing organizations through their manufacturing transformation so that they can become agile, connected and a customer-centric enterprise of the future. This paper assesses the value creation in the dynamic manufacturing ecosystem as well as presents a roadmap for the factories of the future. To help customers with implementation, an overview of Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform and its ability to deliver unique value for global operations across the transformation journey is provided. The paper also examines relevant customer use-cases that have realized business benefits upon embracing a comprehensive digital manufacturing platform offering.

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“Data will be the new value-multiplier for the factory. Factory owners will strive to network various aspects of a plant (such as tools, assets, material, people, process, and services) on one digital platform. The level of integration and collaboration will offer customers unprecedented information visibility and subsequently generate value from domains that were generative before,” explained Mariano Kimbara, Industrial Group Senior Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “The digital continuity and intuitive customer experience will help customers drive smarter workflow collaboration, process optimization, and improved operational efficiencies. This will mark the beginning of an era of the collaborative manufacturing landscape.”

“Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform enables manufacturing business transformation by synchronizing all manufacturing, supply chain planning, and operations in a unified digital environment. It presents a value network digital twin experience that allows customers to model, monitor, optimize, and simulate multiple scenarios,” added Eric Green, Vice President, DELMIA, Dassault Systèmes. “Digital continuity across broad functions and departments reduces the gap between the virtual environment and the real environment for fast, sustainable innovation in all areas of manufacturing operations.”

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To make the most of the growth opportunities in the market, manufacturers need to transform their internal practices to support a collaborative manufacturing landscape, digital supply chain, changing business models, and workforce of the future. They can achieve the future state by:

• Adopting innovative collaborative processes and architectural transformations to achieve superior integrated business operations.
• Shifting to digital, connected, and end-to-end manufacturing value networks.
• Providing Outcomes-based services instead of mere products. Products will have to be built smarter and with intrinsic communication capabilities.
• A digital continuity platform approach to manufacturing smarter products will break down silos and foster collaboration, from design to service, for these outcomes-focused operational innovations.
• Fostering collaborative relationships instead of traditional vendor/customer models, while creating new channels for flexible and on-demand services.
• Embracing technologies such as 3D printing, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Augmented/Virtual Reality, and edge computing.
• Preparing a future-ready workforce.

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