NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2016MANUFACTURINGTECHNOLOGYINSIGHTS.COM8Once you get a segment of a manufacturing line working exactly as you want, you can reproduce it elsewhere with plug-and-play capabilityThe Industrial Internet at WorkBy Paul Boris, Vice President, Manufacturing Industries, GE DigitalIN MY OPINIONHeavy industry today faces relentless pressure to manage costs, shorten development times, and increase productivity--while also meeting customer demands for build-to-order manufacturing and quality compliance. However, most manufacturers find it challenging to extract new value from the plant floor. In fact, there is a drop in overall industrial productivity in recent years, from four percent annually in 1990-2010 to one percent since. This statistic results mainly from a reduced asset productivity. So, what's the problem? Fragmented infrastructure and siloed IT systems lead to poor performance and inefficiencies throughout the operation; manual, paper-based systems result in a lack of timely, in-context information and prevent real-time responses to issues, customers and opportunities; and tearing out current equipment or systems may not seem worth the near-term risk to productivity. It's clear that manufacturing today needs engagement and leadership from innovative organizations to establish new ways to increase productivity. Years ago, companies often outsourced manufacturing both to reach developing markets as well as to leverage cheaper manpower instead of spending money on new manufacturing technology. But with manufacturing out of direct line of sight and processes assumed to be well understood, organizations took manufacturing practices for granted. New talent wasn't attracted to the space, and productivity declined. Today, many factories have installed sensors that generate tons of data, but pure connectivity does not create value. Increasing productivity also requires digital models of physical assets, industrial analytics, and the capability to modify machines to achieve critical outcomes. Four years ago, we started thinking that if connected machines and advanced analytics could make industry just 1 percent more efficient, the sheer scale of industrial operations would translate into economic gains valued in hundreds of billions of dollars. Numerous improvements at scale--even outcomes like 1 percent reduced downtime on critical equipment--can drive big changes in performance and operating margin. We have to stop thinking about making things just a little bit better. Today we can latch onto a vision that is a moonshot and then accomplish it one piece at a time. Many manufacturers need to drive inventory costs down Paul Boris
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