Article | October 20, 2021
Additive manufacturing has advanced significantly in recent years and is currently used in nearly every area to improve both products and processes in the manufacturing business. As a result, manufacturers have been more imaginative and innovative in offering relevant products to their target customer group due to this technological advancement.
Mr. Matt Mong, a prominent business executive, also mentioned in one of his Media7 interviews,
As technology takes over and enhances many of the processes we used to handle with manual labor, we are freed up to use our minds creatively, which leads to bigger and better leaps in innovation and productivity.
Matt Mong, VP Market Innovation and Project Business Evangelist at Adeaca
The use of additive technology provides several advantages, including creating unique shapes and low production costs. In addition, the increasing application of additive manufacturing technologies is accelerating the growth of the additive manufacturing market. According to recent research conducted by Metal AM, the value of additively produced components is expected to increase by 15% annually from $12 billion in 2020 to $51 billion in 2030. Thus, additive marketing is the way forward for all industries.
This article will cover the top five industries that utilize additive manufacturing and are advancing their businesses every day by overcoming the prevailing challenges such as production errors, downtime, and skilled labor shortage with the benefits of additive manufacturing.
Five Industries Utilizing Additive Manufacturing
Though additive manufacturing or 3D printing has penetrated almost all the industries, we have picked up a few of the prevailing industries that have started using additive manufacturing and excelling in it.
Additive Manufacturing in Aerospace
Aerospace has always been the first sector to adopt new technology. Precision is critical in this sector, as a failure of any component is not an option in aerospace. In aircraft production, dimension, weight, and temperature tolerance are critical, and additive technology provides every solution around this. As a result, additive manufacturing has evolved into a critical technology that adds value throughout the supply chain for prominent aircraft firms like Airbus, GE, Boeing, and TTM.
Additive Manufacturing in Healthcare
Healthcare or medical is one of the industries that is maximizing the benefits of additive manufacturing. Technology enables the medical sector to be more innovative, accurate, and capable of offering the most excellent medical solutions available today. It enables medical practitioners to rehearse before procedures and medical researchers to study functioning human tissues for basic biological research. In addition, it is utilized to fabricate tissues and organoids, surgical instruments, patient-specific surgical models, and bespoke prostheses. Thus, additive technology has altered the face of medicine, elevating it to a more sophisticated and solution-oriented state.
Additive Manufacturing in Architecture
As with other industries, additive manufacturing reshapes the architectural and construction sectors by eliminating conventional industrial barriers such as production time and cost, material waste, and design constraints. By utilizing 3D printing, designers can now quickly construct and demonstrate how structural parts will function and appear when combined. It also assists designers in seeing how the plan will seem subsequent execution.
Additive Manufacturing in Manufacturing
Nowadays, additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is a significant part of the manufacturing process. For example, rather than fabricating a product from solid blocks, additive manufacturing may build a three-dimensional model utilizing fine powder, various metals, polymers, and composite materials as raw materials for constructing a 3D model with a three-dimensional printer.
Additive Manufacturing in Education
Additive manufacturing is reshaping the educational industry by introducing a new teaching trend and transforming the classroom experience for students. It is being used in various disciplines, including engineering, architecture, medicine, graphic design, geography, history, and even chemistry. They may produce prototypes, three-dimensional models, and historical objects, among other things. Thus, technology enables learners to get more practical information about their respective courses directly on the floor.
How has General Electric (GE) been pioneering the use of Additive Manufacturing for 20 years?
GE's primary competency is additive manufacturing (3D printing), and the company has made significant investments in the technology. It utilizes additive technology to manufacture a range of components for aviation and other sectors. This article will look at one of their manufacturing case studies and how additive technology enabled them to get the desired result from the end product.
CASE STUDY: OPTISYS
Optisys modified a vast, multi-part antenna assembly into a palm-sized, lighter, one-piece additive metal antenna. The antenna's aluminum material was chosen because of its surface conductivity, low weight, corrosion resistance, and stress and vibration resistance. Optisys was able to break even on machine acquisition within one year after acquiring its first Direct Metal Laser Melting (DMLM) equipment by utilizing additive technologies. (Source: General Electric)
Benefits and Outcomes
Non-recurring expenditures were reduced by 75%.
Weight loss of 95%
The size was reduced by 80%.
Part-to-part reduction of 100-to-1
Cycle duration shortened from 11 to 2 months
5 product lines were created for AM, a new market growth
Final Words
Additive manufacturing benefits a wide variety of businesses. Industries must recognize the advantages of additive manufacturing and begin using the technology in their manufacturing processes to cut production time and costs while increasing product accuracy. This game-changing expansion of the additive manufacturing market across several industries is upgrading both products and production processes.
FAQs
How do you define additive manufacturing?
Additive manufacturing (AM), more generally referred to as 3D printing, is a ground-breaking manufacturing technique that enables the creation of lighter, more robust components and systems. As the name implies, additive manufacturing is adding material to an item to create it.
Is additive manufacturing the same as 3D printing?
Both terms are interchangeable. Additive manufacturing and 3D printing manufacture components by connecting or adding material from a CAD file.
Which companies specialized in additive manufacturing?
American Additive Manufacturing, Forecast 3D, Sciaky, Inc., 3 Axis Development, Inc., Jonco Industries, Inc., Polyhistor International, Inc., and Caelynx, LLC are renowned companies for additive manufacturing in the United States of America.
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Article | March 1, 2022
Industrial IoT (IIoT) is an abbreviation for the Industrial Internet of Things, originally defined as the Internet of Things (IoT). It is utilized across industries, including manufacturing, and shows great positive results, supporting overall business growth.
According to Grand View Research, globally, the industrial internet of things market size was worth around $216.13 billion in 2020 and is predicted to reach over $1.1 trillion by 2028. Is IIoT similar to IoT? The answer is yes.
“If you think internet has changed your life, think again. The internet of things is about to change it all over again.”
– Brendan O’Brien
Like the Internet of Things, the Industrial IoT has multiple use cases and applications. Additionally, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) opens up new opportunities in multiple areas. Some of the industrial internet of things examples are as follows:
The Internet of Things industrial automation and optimization
Intelligent manufacturing and smart industries
Asset performance management and industrial control
Moving towards an on-demand service model
New ways of servicing customers
New revenue streams
Internet of Things Industrial Applications
According to IDC, manufacturing operations are the primary use case for the IoT in manufacturing. In this article, we'll look at five particular IIOT applications in manufacturing operations, production asset management, and field services that are driving Industrial IoT adoption in manufacturing.
Production Visibility
Industrial IoT can link machines, tools, and sensors on the shop floor, providing much-needed visibility into production for process engineers and management. For instance, businesses may use sensors like RFID and break beams to track components as they travel through assembly automatically. Additionally, industrial IoT apps may provide supervisors and plant managers with a real-time picture of their teams' yield by linking operators’ tools and production equipment. Organizations may utilize this degree of visibility to detect bottlenecks, determine the main cause of issues, and improve more rapidly. Dashboards for real-time IIoT production visibility can help businesses find problems and track productivity in real-time.
Continuous Monitoring for Quality Improvement
Environmental sensors continuously monitor necessary quality conditions and notify management when crucial quality thresholds exceed permissible limits. For instance, temperature control is crucial to pharmaceutical manufacturing. By utilizing IoT-connected sensors, managers may monitor temperature and humidity and receive quick alerts if they deviate from expected values. Continuous monitoring, similar to machine monitoring, can help you keep an eye on your assets in real-time.
Maximize Machine Use
The Industrial Internet of Things enables businesses to link their machinery to the internet. This technology enables organizations to monitor their machines in real-time while also tracking critical KPIs such as overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and overall process effectiveness (OPE). By monitoring these indicators, businesses may discover and resolve sources of unscheduled downtime, perform preventive maintenance on their equipment, and maximize machine used throughout the operation. According to a recent McKinsey article, sensor data used to forecast equipment failure in production may reduce maintenance costs by up to 40% and unscheduled downtime by half. So, by applying IIoT, you may monitor the key performance indicators (KPIs) that are most important to you.
Improve Plant Management
Using sensors in production plants may enhance their management and minimize the operating expenses of a plant. For example, by employing sensors such as RFID tags to monitor facilities, manufacturers may gather insights to help them optimize space consumption. Using IoT-enabled sensors to monitor environmental factors like temperature, humidity, and others may also help firms better manage their buildings. Finally, businesses can save energy, cut costs, and improve operational efficiency by keeping an eye on their machines and making sure they are running in the right conditions.
Optimize Supply Chain Management
The Internet of Things enables sensors to monitor events across a supply chain, delivering real-time data by tracking inputs, equipment, and products. RFID tags and other sensors can track inventories throughout the supply chain. This gives businesses a better understanding of their inventory and more realistic deadlines for material availability, work in progress, and others. Organizations may use this data to detect interdependencies, map material flow, and monitor production cycle durations. This data aids businesses in predicting risks. It also lowers inventory levels and, perhaps, capital requirements. No code tables hold all of your inventory data. Tables are automatically updated as inventory is consumed during operations.
Industrial Internet of Things vs Internet of Things (IIoT Vs IoT)
IIoT
IoT
It is geared for industrial applications such as manufacturing, power generation, and oil and gas.
It focuses on a broad range of applications, from wearables to robotics and machinery.
To avoid life-threatening or other emergency circumstances, it employs crucial equipment and gadgets connected through a network that requires precise sensors.
Its deployment begins on a modest scale, eliminating the possibility of life-threatening scenarios.
It deals with extensive networks.
It deals with modest networks.
It is capable of processing data ranging from mild to high.
It is capable of processing enormous amounts of data.
It is highly reliable.
It is less reliable.
IIoT Adoption Challenges & Solutions
Investment Costs
Significant investment expenses are necessary to transform operations, including hardware, software, and human capital. Businesses frequently view IIoT as a giant leap ahead, resulting in a massive bill. A more effective strategy is to break the projects down into bite-sized implementations with set milestones. This will pave the way for outcome-driven success that can be quantified by top-tier management, resulting in a more passionate reaction and maybe a larger scale resource limitation.
Additionally, expenses can be reduced by utilizing public infrastructure and software-as-a-service rather than custom-built installations. While the cost of IoT continues to decline, numerous organizations' executives are playing the waiting game. This strategy may be good for the short term, but if you wait for prices to go down for a long time, you ccoul lose your competitive advantage and let other people get a better deal.
Data Security
It's easy to get paranoid about the attacks and problems because of all the news about cyber security. One must address these security concerns methodically and recognize measures to secure critical industrial information. Depending on the level of sensitivity, data can be checked and encrypted using a variety of one-way interactions. SCADA systems do not have to combine and act on sensor data; they can be digitally segregated. Additionally, the cloud infrastructure might be networked inside to create a "private" or corporate cloud with no external access. These security challenges can be surmounted if the advantages of the IIoT outweigh the hazards.
Lack of Skilled Professionals
While it is true that the digital world is rapidly merging with the industrial world, the issue remains as to who in the organization can take charge. An individual or team must bridge the IT and OT cultures and meet opposing demands. The program requires a blended IT/OT viewpoint to achieve IIoT goals while increasing operational complexity and responsibilities.
There are several data science certifications, online courses, and conferences available to educate middle management. Start growing competency while making learning and education a management team KPI. Consider partnering with institutions and educational vendors. The executive team's appetite for knowledge must be continual. Learning will be viewed as a lifetime process requiring dynamic stability and continual mobility.
A shortage of competent personnel was also stated in the Morgan Stanley-Automation World Industrial Automation Survey, with 24% of respondents citing a labor shortage. There is a general shortage of highly specialized talents, but it may also be necessary to look 'outside' to get the essential skills. If there is one thing that is certain in this age of digital transformation and the Industrial Internet of Things, it is that no organization can flourish entirely on its own and that networks, ecosystems, and platforms of partners are critical to success.
Final Words
Starting an IIoT project should be done with a straightforward and practical approach. This is not a big company-changing initiative, but a series of small projects or digital test beds that might raise sales, profits, or customer retention. Read our latest industrial internet of things infographic for quick tips on tackling IIoT adoption issues.
FAQ
What are IIoT devices?
IIoT refers to linked sensors, instruments, and other devices networked with industrial applications like manufacturing and energy management.
What is an IIoT platform?
Gartner describes IIoT platforms as a collection of integrated software capabilities. The platform is designed to support industrial assets and their operational environments in safety, security, and mission criticality.
What is the IoE?
The Internet of Everything (IoE) is a concept that builds on the Internet of Things (IoT). It focuses on machine-to-machine (M2M) connections to represent a more complicated system that includes people and processes.
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Article | May 5, 2022
A consistent stream of marketing qualified leads is vital for B2B manufacturing enterprises. This is because manufacturing companies rely on a daily stream of orders to be productive and offer sufficient work for their personnel. Indeed, the manufacturing business model is contingent upon the sales process remaining active. Even one week without new leads can have a detrimental effect on your business's revenue and the livelihood of your personnel.
Manufacturing businesses can generate new leads in numerous ways. Of course, the particular strategies you choose will vary according to your target audience. There may be some diversity in your strategy for potential leads. This article will discuss three manufacturing lead generation strategies that can assist you in generating more qualified leads for your business.
Why Is Lead Generation Critical for B2B Businesses?
B2B lead generation is critical to sales development since it contributes to the development and conversion of demand for a product. Without a lead generation process, your team would be unable to create prospects, leaving your sales funnel empty.
This would imply that your sales representatives would be without leads to contact, nurture, and close. Operating a sales force without a lead pipeline impairs your ability to forecast sales and earnings, which has repercussions throughout your business.
The development of leads is a primary objective for management and executive teams in general. This can have a significant influence on revenue.
Producing consistent volumes of high-quality leads can provide your sales team with additional opportunities to close and revenue-generating opportunities. As a result, it is an acute component of client acquisition and revenue growth operations.
So how can you increase your business's lead generation in order to maintain growth in sales? Let us ascertain.
How Can Your Manufacturing Company Get More Qualified Leads?
Turn Website Visitors into Leads
Just because you manufacture something doesn't mean you shouldn't try to generate leads online. Manufacturing websites tend to be quite industrial, with lots of information and requirements on each page. Even if this is the case, make it simple for people to contact you. This can be done with a simple “Contact Us” button on each page. Never let these valuable website visitors depart without providing you with their email address.
Consider a web-to-lead form that links with your company's CRM program. Visitors that fill out this form will be added as new leads in your CRM. You'll be alerted by email so you can follow up quickly.
Provide Free Samples to Qualified Leads
You can't just send free samples to everyone who visits your site — you'd go bankrupt! If your company's products are small, you could give free samples to verified potential customers. Displaying this offer prominently on your homepage will encourage visitors to register.
Include fields on your web-to-lead form that capture the lead's industry and/or company size. Your sales team can then target the most appropriate prospects to send samples. Inquire about the products' satisfaction with these leads. A gift with customized service may be the secret to turning leads into customers.
Collaborate with E-Commerce Vendors
Another possibility is for manufacturers to drop ship white-labelled products or sell wholesale to individual drop-shippers. Many enthusiastic drop shippers are looking for things to offer on e-commerce sites. By working with these merchants, you can quickly get your goods to those who wish to sell or buy them.
This is a less traditional “lead generation” strategy that takes advantage of modern e-commerce. The early setup costs may be high for this collaboration, but the potential return on investment for your company is significant.
Final Words
Lead generation for manufacturers is a vital component of maintaining a healthy sales funnel. While the manufacturing business may face certain unique lead generation challenges, there are still numerous approaches to generating new qualified leads for follow-up.
Using the guidelines outlined above, you should be well on your way to developing a lead generation plan that generates consistent results for your business.
FAQ
What is B2B lead generation?
B2B lead generation is a technique used by B2B marketers to organically attract new clients to their business. This strategy comprises a variety of inbound marketing methods aimed at increasing exposure, awareness, and interest among prospects within a defined target demographic.
What are the four steps of lead generation?
Lead generation includes four steps: awareness, education, sampling, and conversion. This framework can be used to design the optimal end-to-end lead generation process for every new market, product or service you establish.
What comes first: the opportunity or the lead?
A lead is a sales prospect. An opportunity is a specific sales contract with an estimated financial value. The opportunity record will be linked to the lead or contact record of the potential client.
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Article | December 8, 2021
An agile manufacturing strategy is one that places a strong priority on responding quickly to the needs of the customer, resulting in a major competitive advantage.
It is a captivating method to build a competitive work system in today's fast-moving marketplace. An agile organization must be able to adapt quickly to take advantage of limited opportunities and rapid shifts as per client demand. Agile manufacturing is gaining favor among manufacturers due to its several benefits, including increased work productivity and good control over the final deliverable. Furthermore, the shorter time to market is expanding the global market for enterprise agile transformation services.
According to Market Watch, with a CAGR of 17.9% from 2019 to 2026, the US enterprise agile transformation services market is predicted to reach $18,189.32 million by 2026.
So why is agile manufacturing gaining traction? What challenges do manufacturers encounter when implementing agile manufacturing, and how have industry leaders like GE, Adobe, and Accenture effectively implemented agile methodology in their organizations and become the best examples of agile manufacturing? In this article, we'll take a closer look at each point.
What Is the Importance of Agile Manufacturing?
The term "agile manufacturing" refers to the use of a variety of different technologies and methodologies in the production process. In order to meet market standards and criteria, organizations must be able to adapt quickly and effectively to their customers' needs by bringing agility to manufacturing. To ensure the quality of products and the cost of production are kept to a minimum, agile manufacturing helps firms to regulate their end product.
Because it immediately addresses the needs and worries of the clients, it is an effective strategy as well. By using this method, firms may better understand the market and use it to their advantage by creating products that meet the needs of their customers.
Challenges While Adopting Agile Methodologies on a Project
When we talk about agile challenges when implementing it on any project, some will be routine and some will be unique. So, let's get a quick grasp on the agile challenges.
Communication about the project: Clear communication between the development team and the product owner is critical throughout the project development life cycle. Any miscommunication can have an impact on the product's quality and the end result of the entire process.
Managing the day-to-day operational challenges: Throughout the project, daily minor or large operations play a significant impact on the overall project output. Any obstacles encountered when working on everyday chores should be resolved immediately to avoid any delays or halts in the process.
To make it function, you'll need experience: Any inexperienced product owners, scrum masters, or individuals new to the agile approach may have a negative impact on the project's expected output.
Various project contributors' buy-in: Inadequate training, a lack of motivation to show up from project participants, keeping customers in the loop, and a lack of departmental management are some of the problems that may hinder the accurate implementation of the agile methodology. The presence of one or more of these obstacles in any business or project may jeopardize the agile methodology and its total output.
Though there are many online training courses and books available on how to integrate agile practices into your project, each organization's scenario is unique, as are the challenges they encounter. As a result, handling the situation with experienced personnel that have a can-do attitude is what is required to make it work.
Following that, we'll look at some manufacturing business agile examples and how they've successfully implemented agile methodology in their organizations.
Agile Manufacturing Examples
We'll look at one of the most well-known industrial examples of agile manufacturing that has successfully implemented the methodology and achieved great outcomes. Take a peek at it.
Adobe
One of the most popular agile manufacturing examples in performance management revamps is Adobe. When Donna Morris was Senior Vice President of People Resources in 2012, she thought the annual performance evaluation and the stack-ranking process were bureaucratic, paperwork-heavy overly complicated, taking up too many management hours for the company. Aside from this, she discovered that it set barriers to joint efforts, creativity, and development.
The Adobe team ditched annual performance reviews and encouraged managers and employees to regularly discuss performance via a system called “Check-in.” Adobe has reduced voluntary turnover by 30% and increased voluntary departures by 50% since making the transition. Moreover, the company saved 80,000 management hours annually.
General Electric
General Electric famously overhauled its performance management system in 2015, paving the path for other global firms to follow in the electronics industry. Annual performance evaluations and the infamous rank-and-yank performance rating system (ranking employees and regularly eliminating the bottom 10%) had GE decide they needed to update their performance management system. The annual appraisals lasted a decade longer than the ranking system. They are now a more agile organization.
Instead of directing employees to attain goals, managers now guide and coach them. GE also decided to deploy an app they designed called PD@GE to facilitate regular employee feedback and productive performance discussions.
Using the app, each employee establishes priorities and solicits feedback. They can also give real-time feedback. Employees can request a face-to-face meeting at any time to discuss transparency, honesty, and continuous improvement.
These traits will not arise quickly and will require motivation and commitment for self-growth.
Accenture
According to Accenture's previous system, employees who perform well tend to be the most narcissists and self-promoters. Accenture wanted to revamp their system and reward genuine employees. So they started using on-going performance conversations while focusing on performance development.
Because it required employees to compete with coworkers who may have had a different position, Accenture decided that forced ranking was illogical. The new system is more centered on the employee and aims to assist them in becoming the best version of themselves.
Final Words
Agile manufacturing is a way to get the finest results and exceed client expectations on every project. Businesses are benefiting from agile manufacturing because it improves the end product and helps them better utilize their resources. The necessity of agile manufacturing in business is vital, and organizations must overcome the challenges they encounter while applying the agile approach to any of their projects in order to reap the benefits of agile production.
FAQ
How does agile manufacturing help businesses?
An agile manufacturing process enables organizations to respond to client requests with flexibility when market conditions change, as well as regulate their intended production while preserving product quality and minimizing costs.
What is an agile organization?
Unified alignment, accountability, specialization, transparency, and cooperation are key elements in an agile organization. To guarantee these teams can work efficiently, the organization must maintain a solid environment.
What are the core elements of agility?
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools are the four values of the Agile Methodology. A working program is preferable to in-depth documentation. During contract negotiation, the customer's cooperation is valued.
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