Smart manufacturing is enabling the best decisions in the shortest time based on the most accurate and actual real-time data—whether those decisions are made by people, automated machines or cyber-physical systems. This is the foundation for being flexible, innovative, responsive and competitive. A smart manufacturing initiative does not need to be a huge project. It can start small, but you must understand the benefits and invest the time and resources to support the initiative.
Jonathan Van Wyck, partner and managing director at the Boston Consulting Group, takes the broad concept of Industry 4.0 and customizes it for companies to better understand how their pain points in operations can be alleviated through technology.