It’s no secret that U.S. manufacturing has been in a steady decline in recent years. Outsourcing, cost of labor, and other factors have made the price of manufacturing in the U.S. soar. But this trend may soon reverse, as a survey by Deloitte and the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI) suggests, thanks in part to the revolution of smart factories. A smart factory, as described the survey, is one utilizing the latest technology such as industrial grade PCs to create a digitized factory. Deploying the latest technology into your factory can help transform it into a smart factory, potentially tripling productivity.
The Stagnation Of Labor Productivity
While wages for workers have remained relatively constant over the last few decades, productivity has seen a drastic increase. This is good news for manufacturers, as it allows for a wider profit margin. However, this trend appears to have come to an end as the survey concluded, “In spite of the continual improvements in equipment, software, and management approaches, the annual labor productivity growth rate in the United States was around 0.7 percent in the years between 2007 and 2018, and showed zero net average growth during the past five years.”
However, factories in the process of turning into or are already smart factories have reported up to 10% gains in as little as three years. These early adopters of the smart factory lifestyle expect to increase their productivity across the board another 2% over the next year!
Transforming Your Factory Into A Smart Factory
In an age where even your fridge can be “smart” it is important that we determine what a smart factory actually looks like. In order to truly be a smart factory, it will take more than just having wifi for everyone’s laptops. Deploying and utilizing the internet of things (IoT), smart transfer systems, cloud computing technology, analytics, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality systems will be crucial to the smart factory of tomorrow. One thing that all of these new technologies have in common is their ability to utilize industrial grade PCs.
Rugged Mini C
Industrial grade PCs will play a critical role in tomorrow’s smart factory, as they can serve to network your factory’s many individual systems into one, central dogma. Take the Rugged Mini C, which is an industrial grade PC that has up to eight highspeed ethernet ports in its small frame. The Rugged Mini C is the perfect industrial grade PC for creating a network of devices around your factory, and can hook seven different pieces of equipment up to the network with ease; better allowing your factory to connect and be a part of the IoT. Creating such a network of industrial grade PCs will allow every piece of equipment to be fully utilized in all the ways a smart factory demands, as listed above.
Don’t Let Productivity Stall, Make Your Factory Smarter
It’s simple math that 12% gains in productivity are fundamentally better than 0%, and in today’s competitive market this margin can make all the difference. Industrial grade PCs can help smartify your factory, and bring it inline with the fourth industrial revolution. Don’t sit your factory out on the sidelines of progress, put it into the game with industrial grade PCs.
