More and more industries are using technology in dynamic ways to improve their business operations. Especially when it comes to tackling a specific challenge in your supply chain or manufacturing process, having the technology to provide additional options and solutions can ultimately make or break your business when it comes to profitability and the bottom line.
As such, more and more vendors are finding ways to use smart manufacturing tools to design a process that reduces their cycle times, while maximizing high precision and repeatability. This can be a major win for production lines where material handling is safer when handled by a robotic arm than a human arm or hands.
When it comes to implementing these sorts of technologies, research is one of your best friends. After all, different research publications can be a valuable asset for any vendor looking to quickly source information about which platforms or tools have the highest ratings, solid warranties, or are best suited for a particular purpose.
Rather than weighing whether or not you’re reading an affiliates advertisement or an actual endorsement, looking for statements of fact from a reputable research organization can be incredibly beneficial when it comes to learning more about the sorts of software and tools that will help you build the mobile infrastructure your business needs to truly become a smart manufacturer.
Learn more about these concepts below.
Gartner helps you research the best business intelligence solution for your company
When it comes to sizing up different business intelligence and data analytics tools or platforms, Gartner research publications is a major boon for technology users looking for detailed information about a company and its software. One of the reasons that the opinions of Gartner are so revered is because of the fact that they use a proprietary way of discussing companies and leading platforms using their “magic quadrant.”
The Gartner magic quadrant sorts businesses and tools into four categories based on axes that measure the completeness of vision for each company as well as their ability to execute that vision. From there, a company may find itself in the leader quadrant, challenger quadrant, niche player quadrant, or visionary quadrant.
Just because some of these terms sound fancier than others doesn’t mean that it makes sense to just pick the “best” performing company in the magic quadrant. It’s much more important to think about your own business’ needs in the context of the entire document, since the Gartner document goes well beyond the magic quadrant graph. Doing this will make sure that the features you need in creating your smart manufacturing ecosystem—whether they’re wireless access points, secure virtualization, or cloud security—are there before you make your transition.
Smart manufacturing tools can integrate with leading software
Once you’ve picked the right business intelligence platform, it’s time to figure out what other web services and tools will be used in your smart manufacturing ecosystem. When it comes to the sorts of robotic manufacturing arms that you consider when thinking about a technologically advanced smart manufacturing process, one of the leading options are SCARA robots.
The SCARA line of robotic arms come in a few different iterations, with some specifically crafted for environmental needs. SCARA is a leader in the creation and implementation of robotic arms that boost performance by improving both speed and efficiency, not to mention your payload capabilities. SCARAs feature global controllers to get the work done right, with the additional functionality offered to SCARA robots through the use of a web-based programming interface.
While SCARA robots certainly aren’t the only options on the market, they are viewed as a leading platform in the automotive industry, as well as medical and assembly applications.
The Internet of Things has also been popular with smart manufacturing. These are just a couple of options that could help your organization, but making sure to think about your needs and researching the best vendors will help you determine exactly what you need.