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Manufacturing a technology-driven recovery
With the advent of smart manufacturing technology, manufacturers and employees will have an opportunity to upskill,.
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Chingyao Yang, lead automation engineer for Just, uses a robotic arm at the company's headquarters office in San Francisco, California on May May 4, 2018. Just, who develops vegan products, recently started to work on a new kind of meat based on animal cells. (AFP/Josh Edelson)
D
espite the challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Indonesian manufacturing sector’s Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) reached a height of 55.3 points in May this year, beating South Korea (53.7), Vietnam (53.1), Japan (53.0) and China (52.0).
Analysts point to a positive outlook for its manufacturing sector, which forms almost a quarter of Indonesia’s total gross domestic product of US$1.19 trillion. Manufacturing activity has picked up in the past few months, tied in some part to gains enjoyed by the export sector. This proves that Indonesia’s manufacturing sector is resilient, and could stand to hugely benefit from adoption of technology in order to mitigate uncertainties and disruptions, from travel to workplace safety policies.
As such, the need for effective, efficient and intelligent manufacturing solutions have never been more urgent, now, as automation becomes crucial to overcome the challenges ahead. Across the value chain, adjustments needed to happen – and fast – with effective solutions to meet goals efficiently and accurately, to deliver end-products of high quality, at optimum productivity. Smart manufacturing addresses this, and can accelerate Indonesia’s manufacturing sector towards its Industry 4.0 vision.
McKinsey in a recent study points to the imperative faced by the manufacturing industry to digitalize, and estimates that digitization could add $120 billion to Indonesia’s economic output by 2025, with more than a quarter of this — about $34 billion — coming from manufacturing. However, in these tough times, manufacturers may be hesitant to invest in technology, citing uncertain outlook and increased costs. Yet we believe that it is precisely because of these uncertain times that smart manufacturing will be the tool to solve the challenges and potential disruptions posed by the pandemic.
One major pain point faced by many manufacturers, pre-and post-COVID, is an insufficient number of highly-skilled workers to meet the demands of the rapidly growing, fast-developing manufacturing sector. And, due to the shortage and the highly-coveted skills of available workforce, manufacturers have to also contend with a high turnover rate.
The pandemic has only exacerbated this problem further, as workers take ill or are quarantined due to the pandemic. Limited number of workers in a manufacturing plant or factory also means productivity is affected; as a result, workers are under more stress to meet targets at half the manpower. And, with the news of yet another mobility restriction looming, manufacturers have to find ways to cushion the blow-- not just for their businesses, but for the heartbeat of their businesses: their employees.
As such, smart manufacturing is a multi-pronged solution: It vastly improves productivity, alleviates manpower pressures, and enables automation to reduce manual labor and decreases rates of contact and infection. For example, an automated part recognition and alignment tool automatically identifies, aligns and launches a measurement routine for a part placed on a coordinate measuring machine (CMM), allowing operators to eliminate error and increase productivity.
Instead of having to manually align parts, operators place them on the CMM’s measurement table and EYE-D does the rest. This smart automation reduces human error and operates to a 99 percent accuracy, while easing the workforce from tedious, manual operations. This way, a previously low-skilled worker can be upskilled to monitor and operate these autonomous solutions, for example, thus improving their workload while also future-proofing their jobs and skill-sets.
With the advent of smart manufacturing technology, manufacturers and employees will have an opportunity to upskill, while simultaneously improving the livelihoods and productivity of their employees. Any manufacturer, whether an international enterprise or a mid-sized supply chain contractor, speed, accuracy and precision can mean the difference between success and failure. Whether the product is made from metal, composites or any other material, the correct machine tool programming and execution is imperative to success, and guaranteeing part quality is a must.
Take for example the use of CMM inspection which is an essential part of manufacturing products from the precision components of watches to the sheet metal casings of domestic appliances.
Smart manufacturing solutions will be pivotal to transition Indonesia’s Industry 4.0 roadmap into a reality. Indonesia’s export-oriented manufacturing sector which has grown rapidly, is now larger than those of the United Kingdom, Russia and Mexico.
Technologies to connect management, decision cycles, workforce, suppliers, equipment and end-to-end processes for an integrated ecosystem will only push the country forward and into a slow, steady and consistent recovery that would withstand the vagaries of the pandemic.
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The writer is vice president of sales and manufacturing business unit at Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, Korea, ASEAN, Pacific and India.
