Dinesh Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, Anchor by Panasonic
The manufacturing sector has adopted ICT solutions such as industrial internet of things (IoT), as well as social media, mobile, cloud and analytics in a big way to integrate various stages of the production value chain and gain real-time insight into market trends and customer preferences. However, changing business needs and upcoming data security threats hamper the adoption of such solutions by the sector. Going forward, artificial intelligence and robotics will find many takers amongst manufacturing enterprises. IT heads of leading manufacturing enterprises comment on the key technology trends in this space, their IT strategies, and plans for upgrading their ICT infrastructure…
What are the key benefits and drivers of digital transformation for the manufacturing sector?
Some of the key benefits of the digital transformation in the manufacturing sector are:
- Enhanced connectivity: The introduction of portable handsets and reformed broadband services, and the amalgamation of real-time data with other modern technologies have helped in the enhancement of products and led to increased technological connectivity.
- Improved decision-making: Due to the coupling of granular real-time data with other cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and block chain, there has been an increased improvement in business processes and decision-making.
- Increased productivity: Digital transformation brings together every system, device, process and asset across the organisation using a smart production platform. By harnessing all the data available, one can deliver the right expertise at the right time, produce superior quality products and improve productivity.
What is the scope of big data analytics and IoT in the manufacturing industry? Is your company using or planning to deploy these?
With the availability of a huge data pool at its disposal, the manufacturing sector has dug deep to analyse sectors that have the maximum impact on its production activities. The encompassing digital network, which is spread across areas and devices, allows manufacturing companies to have access to real-time data and gives the capability to conduct sophisticated statistical analysis using big data analytics and machine learning algorithms.
What are the challenges faced in managing the existing IT and telecom infrastructure, and deploying new technologies?
Some of the challenges that currently plague the industry are:
- The lack of tax and fiscal benefit grants for telecom infrastructure.
- Spectrum sharing is currently not allowed in India. However, if allowed, it may negatively impact the additional site requirements across operators.
- The process of operator consolidation can lead to a reduction in demand for additional sites. However, consolidation will be restricted to smaller players, thereby having a limited impact on tower companies.
Which technological trends are likely to drive growth in the manufacturing industry going forward?
Some of the key technological trends that will continue to drive the manufacturing industry are:
- Artificial intelligence: In the immediate future, artificial intelligence will continue to remain the key technology, which manufacturers will tap in order to enhance their potential returns. By embedding smart sensors in machinery, this technology will help identify the potential areas of failure before a catastrophic collapse, enabling companies to reduce downtime and maintenance costs. These are some potential advantages of artificial intelligence in the manufacturing segment.
- Cloud computing: Manufacturers are always looking for new ways to streamline operations and improve productivity and profitability. Cloud computing plays an important role in meeting those goals. By using cloud-based systems, manufacturers can consolidate their sales and marketing efforts. Further, they have been developing, prototyping and launching new computer-aided production paradigms using cloud computing.
