5 Steps to Digitalisation: Push Your Manufacturing to Maximum Efficiency
In today’s fast-paced manufacturing world, inefficiency, sadly, is the norm, not the exception. All manufacturing companies are inefficient! From outdated equipment to manual processes, factories are losing valuable time and resources every day. This constant struggle with inefficiencies leads to increased costs, reduced productivity, and lost opportunities. Many manufacturing facilities are caught in a cycle of reactive maintenance and unplanned downtime, which hinders their ability to compete in a rapidly evolving market.
Digitalisation is the solution to these pervasive inefficiencies. It isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a transformative approach that can turn any manufacturing floor into a lean, efficient operation. By harnessing data and smart technologies, factories can streamline operations, predict and prevent problems before they occur, and ultimately maximise their productivity and profitability. Digitalisation offers a clear path forward for manufacturers looking to optimise their processes and stay ahead in a competitive landscape.
But what exactly do we mean by digitalisation? It’s important to distinguish between digitalisation and digitisation, as the two terms are often used interchangeably but have different meanings:
Digitisation refers to the process of converting analogue information into digital form. This could be as simple as scanning paper documents into digital files or using sensors to collect data that was previously recorded manually. Digitisation is the foundation of digital transformation, but on its own, it doesn’t change how work is done.
Digitalisation, on the other hand, involves using digital technologies to change a business model and provide new value-producing opportunities. It’s about leveraging digitised data to optimise and transform processes, improve efficiency, and create smarter, more agile operations. In the context of manufacturing, digitalisation means integrating advanced technologies like IoT, machine learning, and real-time analytics to create a more responsive and intelligent factory floor.
5 Steps To Digitalisation - The GlobalReader Way
At GlobalReader we’ve developed a unique approach to transforming factories into efficient, smart operations. Our five-step digitalisation process guides manufacturers through every stage, from initial data collection to the creation of a fully digitalised, smart factory. These five critical steps, demonstrate how digitalisation can push your manufacturing to maximum efficiency, the GlobalReader way.
Manufacturing Data Collection and OEE - Connectivity through applying Globalreader's hardware with sensors, Scoutbox etc to gather initial data
Manufacturing Data Analytics - Visibility and Reporting - GR tools of Smart live view and Analytics to analyse collected data.
Transparency and Collaboration with Real-Time Data in Manufacturing - Adding Operator tool to the process. Brings production to a new level with actual real-time data and connects various levels of workforce.
Master Predictive Capacity with Production Scheduling Software - Our tools simplify the manufacturing process, increase transparency, and improve overall workflow.
Change The Culture - Become A Smart Factory
Are you ready to transform your factory and leave inefficiencies behind? Let's dive into the journey of digitalisation and explore the future of manufacturing.
Step 1: Connectivity Through Manufacturing Data Collection And OEE
The first step in the digitalisation process is manufacturing data collection, which forms the foundation for all subsequent steps. Accurate data collection is essential to identify inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement in manufacturing operations. Without reliable data, it's impossible to understand where problems exist or how to address them.
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is a critical metric in this phase. OEE measures a factory’s efficiency by evaluating availability, performance, and quality. By understanding these three factors, manufacturers can gain a comprehensive view of their operations and identify areas for optimisation.
To support effective data collection, GlobalReader’s hardware, including sensors and the Scoutbox, integrates seamlessly with existing equipment. These devices capture real-time data on machine performance, downtime, and other key metrics, providing the essential information needed to kick-start the digitalisation journey.
Collecting accurate, real-time data is the cornerstone of digitalisation, enabling factories to transform raw information into actionable insights and drive continuous improvement. We can read data from sensors or directly from the machine controllers. No matter, whether you are reading pieces, meters, time or environmental conditions our platform enables real-time monitoring and subsequent data analysis.
Step 2: Making Sense Of Data – Manufacturing Data Analytics
The second step in the digitalisation process is transforming raw data into meaningful insights through Manufacturing Data Analytics. This helps you understand what is happening and enables you to make smarter decisions from here on. While collecting data is crucial, the real value lies in interpreting this data and making it actionable. This is where visibility and reporting come to play, allowing your team to understand their operations at a glance and make informed decisions.
GlobalReader’s software tools, such as Smart Live View and Analytics, are designed to analyse and visualise data effectively. Smart Live View provides a real-time dashboard of your factory’s performance, offering instant visibility into key metrics. The Analytics tool goes deeper, examining data trends and patterns to identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement. Imagine what you can do when you have real-time overview of your production simply by displaying different reports and graphs on the screen like:
Tailored reports for unique needs
Objective KPI insights for faster responses
Boost efficiency, cut costs, and increase profits.
To stay on top of what is happening you need notifications as soon as there is a spike out of normality. Our systems allow you to set up notifications to get alerts about the status of the machines from the production via SMS, E-mail or App’s push notification.
Turning data into actionable insights is the key to unlocking the full potential of digitalisation, driving smarter decision-making and continuous improvement. The overall culture of the company changs as smart decisions are being made based on data.
Step 3: Transparency And Collaboration With Real-Time Data In Manufacturing
The third step in the digitalisation process is achieving transparency and collaboration. By Once data is collected and analysed, it must be accessible in real-time to everyone involved in the production process. But you must also understand why problems are happening. This transparency allows for quick, informed decision-making and better communication across teams. No more excel or even worse, paper sheets. Choose precise production tracking instead.
GlobalReader’s Operator Tool plays a key role in this step by providing:
Real-Time Data Access: Instant updates on machine performance, downtime causes, production rates and more.
Interactive Dashboards: Easy-to-read visualisations of shop floor activity,
Reduce data collection errors: Provides an accurate overview of your production.
Quality: Double-check the measures, examine the visual quality, submit a comment and more.
Less scrap ensures cost savings and increases production efficiency. By enhancing transparency, shopfloor managers can optimise operations, reduce downtime, and improve overall efficiency. Everybody needs to work together to achieve this - hence collaboration is mentioned.
Step 4: Master Predictive Capacity with Production Scheduling Software
The fourth step in the digitalisation process is knowing what is going to happen next. Although we know by now what happened, why it happened the way it happened, we still need to look ahead. This is where Planner and Maintenance come into play.
Planner is a production planner with easy addition or orders, workstation assignment, and real time feedback. Simplify the manufacturing process, increase transparency, and improve overall workflow to create a fully digitalised factory shop floor. This step integrates all the collected data and analytics into a cohesive, automated system that continuously improves operations. Maintenance tool helps businesses schedule and monitor technical work tasks, track device statuses, and perform maintenance activities before problems arise, reducing the risk of unplanned downtime.
Key Benefits of a predictive capacity:
Planner - cost reduction, real-time production monitoring, efficient work allocation
Maintenance - Streamlined device management, efficient scheduling, comprehensive spare parts management
A real time overview of work progress and spare parts inventory, offering a unified environment for management and sharing of information related to workstations. Move on from calendar based maintenance to smart and need based maintenance.
Step 5: Adaptability To Change The Culture - Become A Smart Factory
Once you start the digitalisation journey with Globalreader we add different hardware and software systems into your factory. Each step the transparency and visibility of who does what, when and how is increasing. We add features in every step to boost your OEE.
The final step in the digitalisation process is adaptability to combine all layers into a fully functioning Smart Factory. This step has the most value to CEO-s, Production managers and Technical managers. Even HR and CFO will have a huge benefit from GlobalReader.
All in all, it integrates previous steps like manufacturing data collection, analysis, transparency and predictability into a unified system that continuously optimises every aspect of production. To ensure efficient production, we connect all your systems, automate processes, and analyse data as a unified whole.
What does a Smart Factory Involve:
Integrated Systems: All machines and processes are interconnected, enabling seamless communication and coordination. Collected data can be used for planning the company's resources in different ERP systems.
Advanced Predictive Maintenance: Compliance and quality assurance. predict equipment failures and schedule maintenance to minimise downtime.
Continuous Improvement: Reduce errors. Real-time data and machine learning algorithms work together to optimise operations continuously.
Important Note:
While a Smart Factory significantly enhances efficiency, it doesn’t eliminate all challenges. New issues may arise even with a fully digitalised and optimised environment. For example:
Identifying Bottlenecks: Although you can pinpoint inefficiencies and bottlenecks with the data collected, resolving them may require further investment or operational changes.
Supply Chain Challenges: Running machines at full capacity may lead to new problems, such as running out of supplies more quickly or needing to expand storage and logistics capabilities.
Scaling Limitations: As efficiency increases, demand may grow, requiring more resources and planning to scale effectively.
By understanding that a Smart Factory is not free from problems but rather equipped to address them more effectively, manufacturers can better prepare for future challenges and opportunities.
Congratulations you have made it through the 5 steps to digitalisation
Digitalising your manufacturing process through the five steps—data collection, analysis, transparency, predictability and integration of these into your processes — transforms your factory into a Smart Factory. This journey enables you to optimise operations, reduce downtime, and enhance overall equipment efficiency. However, it’s important to remember that while a Smart Factory addresses many inefficiencies, new challenges will inevitably arise as your operations scale and evolve.
GlobalReaders solutions based on machine learning AI can now help spot deviations in production processes, allowing you to quickly find and neutralise bottlenecks maximising smart production.
To dive deeper into this important topic and learn how to effectively collect and utilise data to kickstart your digital transformation, check out our detailed article on the 1st Step of Digitalisation: Connectivity - Manufacturing Data Collection. Discover how GlobalReader’s solutions can help you gather the insights needed to maximise your factory's efficiency from the ground up.