By Mr. Pragun Khaitan
India is today on the cusp of a technological change, especially in the manufacturing domain. In the next five years, a new global consumer class will develop, resulting in the creation of several new market opportunities. A robust pipeline of advancements in materials and processes—from nanomaterials to 3-D printing to advanced robotics—promises to create new demand and drive significant productivity gains across manufacturing industries and geographies as customers demand greater variety and more. The next era of global growth and innovation hinges on how technological transformations contribute to manufacturing.
Being the world's fastest-growing economy in the world, our country will be one of the key contributors to the global manufacturing industry. Today, amidst a global upheaval for the industry to do better, the manufacturing sector has altered substantially. The downstream aluminium sector, a key contributor to automotive, construction, power transmission, aerospace, defence, packaging, and a lot more areas is a great example of how new technology is modernising operations.
The availability of advanced robotics, modern R&D labs, and computer-aided vision in warehouses has placed manufacturing at the crossroads of innovation and technology today. It has evolved from relying on human intervention to highly advanced automated technology, augmenting AI which has now become prevalent today. The Indian business landscape is in a constant state of flux. Several developments in technology are converging to transform the manufacturing process over the next five years.
Transcending the future of extrusion manufacturing
Digital transformation can transcend aluminium extrusion manufacturing lines and enable them to innovate effortlessly. It can allow businesses to make greater use of massive amounts of data in real time by leveraging ecosystems of things, machines, and systems. AI has enabled the use of digital solutions to make new decisions rather than merely faster decisions. Today's manufacturing reality is made feasible by new technologies such as 5G, programmable networks, edge computing, and the cloud. Yet, it goes beyond the physical connectivity of these numerous technologies and social networks. Digital technology enables organizations and customers to make better decisions in novel ways. Other than providing economies of scale and lower operating expenses, a central digitally backed system can also deliver financial and competitive advantages to manufacturers in their plants. This kind of centralized digital solutions has advantages beyond those of the dynamic software solutions layer alone.
To build a better future, value-added aluminium products will play a significant role in the creation of solutions in a carbon-constrained environment, digital transformation can be embraced to increase efficiency and adaptability by streamlining multiple processes, information streams, and data.
Manufacturing Execution Systems: Industry 4.0 will pave the way for the end of traditional centralised production control applications. The future of manufacturing will be comprised of intelligent, autonomous, and decentralised shop-floor architecture. In response to client expectations for customised products, these factories, powered by technology enablers such as internet of Things, cloud computing, and mobile devices among others, are expected to create a whole new environment. Future manufacturing technologies, such as Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), will be designed to facilitate this paradigm change. The MES will ensure that tabs are centrally maintained on all aspects of tracking, documentation, and controlling the production process – from raw material inputs to shipped goods.
Proactive approach: Forecasting or predictive analytics is a hybrid of traditional demand forecasting and risk management. To effectively estimate demand, it can consider a variety of elements such as raw material availability, customer behaviour, sales data, weather conditions, supplier and shipping concerns, and others. Managers in the industrial sector can keep tabs on the health of their machinery and anticipate breakdowns by integrating predictive analytics into their applications. Then, factories can schedule shutdowns for preventative maintenance in advance. Predictive analytics can also be used to mitigate or avert disruptions in the manufacturing process.
Challenges and benefits
Unquestionably, most manufacturing businesses will embrace and execute digital transformation processes in their various divisions due to the magnitude of the benefits it can offer. Moreover, if a corporation wishes to remain competitive in the market, it is impossible to avoid the digital realm.
Nonetheless, this entails major obstacles. The skills gap, the acceptance of new technology, the changed management process, and the innovation policies and processes are among the challenges and needs to be addressed.
To sum up, it is a difficult undertaking to manage change in a highly dynamic corporate environment like the downstream aluminium industry. To boost productivity, the company must work together across all departments, and the entire supply chain must be digitalized. To achieve their organisational goals during the digital transformation process, manufacturers must manage change as a continuous process rather than as a one-time occurrence.
The author is Vice Chairman
and Managing Director –
Jindal Aluminium Ltd.
