Essential Ways To Increase Profitability In The Automotive Industry

Automotive manufacturers and suppliers around the world are facing a change like no other in the history of the industry. If we take the past as a clue, these companies will not flee from the relentless pace of transformation that digitization and connectivity have marked in manufacturing technologies or Industry 4.0.

The automotive industry has always embraced technological advancements, beginning with the assembly line, which ultimately spurred the second major industrial revolution in the 1870s. Today, the industry also reflects the more widespread use of factory automation and robotics in the world, trends that swept commercial manufacturing since the 1970s.

 

Industry 4.0 is not only affecting the design of vehicles, but also the factories in which they are manufactured. Clearly, the automotive sector has always been a driving force in the adoption of new production methods, and Industry 4.0 is no different. By driving massive changes in digitization, Industry 4.0 is not only affecting the design of vehicles, but also the factories in which they are manufactured. Many automakers are investing in emerging digital tools to gain or simply maintain market share in an increasingly competitive global market.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) seems to be everywhere today, promising a brighter world where operational technologies connect with information technologies to maximize business productivity. According to leading research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc., "The dream of concepts like Industry 4.0, industrial IoT, and connected automobiles is to unleash information to create better products, enable new ways to own or use vehicles, and build newer vehicles in a more efficient way.

 

Automakers are always looking to cut costs from their products and increase productivity. Increasingly, the focus is on connecting machines and equipment to visualize the manufacturing operation like never before, where data-driven insights lead to better decision making.

 

In fact, the goal of most companies in the automotive industry is a connected business where disparate systems and devices speak the same language and where intelligent endpoints and advanced software analytics drive optimized product and process designs.

 

It even has some (literally) searching for the answers. Most plant owners have heard of the energy-saving potential of LED lighting, but the ability to harness this infrastructure to create a smarter environment is less well known. In fact, the integration of sensors, controls and other hardware enables LED lighting to become a perceptual and demanding wireless communications network capable of compiling data and applying software analysis to achieve greater plant efficiency.

 

To this end, some forward-thinking manufacturers are beginning to envision a network extending to every corner of the plant, enabled by LED lights with smart components on board. This "panoramic view" of the factory is unique to the lighting infrastructure, which can function as a nervous system in the future in connected facilities, where smart accessories actively monitor critical activities and data points, sharing this information with other systems. and allowing the people in the plant to respond accordingly.

 

With the high expectations Industry 4.0 it is not surprising that 48 percent of executives in the manufacturing industry state that their companies have developed and implemented strategies for the application of Industry 4.0 technologies in plants and production processes.

 

What was more surprising was the realization of how high the effects of Industry 4,0 on important performance metrics were in reality. The vast majority of companies that have consistently implemented Industry 4.0 saw productivity increases of at least one percent and up to five percent.

With regard to manufacturing, Industry 4.0 typically includes the use of system sensors, controls and other digital devices. These are networked and exchange data in order to make automated changes within production - and to provide managers with insights for digital decisions and analyses.

 

Companies get a better insight into production, recognize process bottlenecks and can design their processes more flexibly. This in turn enables smart factory functions in which rigid production lines are converted into flexible production cells. This enables the transition from mass production to custom mass production.

Newer technologies such as IIoT can assist automotive manufacturers to increase their profitability. The automotive industry has always embraced technological advancements. IIoT seems to be everywhere today, promising a brighter world where operational technologies connect with information technologies to maximize business productivity.