There has been a lot of talk about Industry 4.0 and its revolutionary impact on the manufacturing world. Sophisticated ecommerce software development helped manufacturers reduce their costs, improve operational visibility, cut down on production times, and deliver outstanding customer support.
However, as impactful as the fourth industrial generation was, it is now time to focus our attention to number five, which is all about the connection between machine and man. In this blog, we will discuss some of the manufacturing trends that will be dominating the current year and years to come.
1) 3D Printing:
To the general public, 3D printing still feels very much like something that belongs in a sci-fi novel. However, it has been an additive manufacturing staple for close to four decades. Nowadays, 3D printing is being relied upon for prototyping – a method that allows designers and manufacturers to test their new products – and to produce according to demand rather than manufacture items and then store them in warehouses.
Thanks to 3D printing, the traditionally time consuming and costly process of tooling has also been drastically improved. 3D printing allows manufacturers to get done with onsite tooling in a mere few days instead of the many months that the process previously took.
2) Nearshoring:
Nearshoring manufacturing is when a company decides to move its operations to another nearby country. This is the opposite of offshoring development services for retailers, where operations are carried to overseas countries.
Thanks to its many advantages, nearshoring is bound to pick up pace during and beyond 2021. Some of the reasons a company might decide to nearshore include:
- Streamlined management
- High-quality infrastructure
- Lower energy costs
- Skilled workforce
- Manufacturing-friendliness
3) Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence:
Since companies now enjoy more data than they ever did. Tools like AI (Artificial Intelligence) and machine learning – that allow organizations to derive maximum benefit from that data – are becoming popular in the manufacturing world. AI is all about computer systems being able to identify trends and derive rational conclusions, which manufacturers can base their decisions on.
Machine learning and AI can assist with numerous manufacturing aspects, such as:
- Inventory Management
- Visibility of supply chain
- Reduction of warehouse costs
- Asset Tracking
- Predicting Accuracy
- Reduction in transport costs
4) Predictive Maintenance:
The trio of machine learning, the Internet of Things, and Artificial Intelligence has allowed predictive maintenance to assist manufacturers in identifying problems before they cause disruptions.
When you add predictive maintenance tools to your manufacturing operations, you are essentially reducing both your downtime and maintenance expenses also prolonging the machineries’ useful lives. According to projections made by McKinsey and Company, predictive maintenance technology will lower maintenance costs by about 20% and cut down unexpected machine outages by as much as 50%.
How Can Cloudcafe Help?
COVID-19 has left an irreversible impact on the manufacturing industry and has caused the fifth generation of manufacturing to make its presence felt sooner than we expected. To survive this new era, manufacturers must embrace and acclimatize to the above discussed manufacturing transformations as soon as they can.
CloudCafe is a leading company in the world of cloud-computing technology, and prides itself on its vision, innovation, and foresight. Cloudcafe offshore and local teams provide end-to-end application development and business analytics services. With the implementation of futuristic manufacturing trends like 3D printing and nearshoring, we can help you ensure that you keep improving your conversions, sales, and profits, even in this rapidly changing business environment.
