Digital transformation has become more of a priority for manufacturers across Europe, organisations have recognised the importance of using technology to improve time to market, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and are now accelerating their efforts, research indicates.
Among the top five pressures to improve operations were increased pace of innovation/changing business models (34 per cent), customer demand of competitive differentiation with higher quality (34 per cent) and the need to reduce costs (31 per cent)
The study, ‘Process Optimisation in Manufacturing: The Key to Best In Class Success’, was commissioned by Panasonic and undertaken by Aberdeen. It showed that best in class manufacturers were defined by their ability to develop the most complex products at the fastest rate and at a reasonable cost.
The best in class manufacturers are the top 20 per cent of manufacturers and they are ahead of the others in their percentage of products that meet revenue targets, percentage of complete and on time shipments and their year on year ability to decrease manufacturing cycle times.
The results were able to quantify that the best in class manufacturers generated 31 per cent more new product introductions that meet production targets, realised a two times greater year on year decrease in production downtime, saw a one and a half times greater year on year decrease in time to decision, reported 37 per cent more products meeting quality targets upon design release, and experienced a 34 per cent increase in year on year OEE.
“As this study shows, digital transformation is just the start of the journey towards realising the smart factory,” Edin Osmanovic, business and industry solutions of Panasonic, said. “It is a prerequisite to enhance process optimisation that delivers increased benefits and enables businesses in the sector to become best in class. Those organisations are using technology as an enabler to innovate and to drive efficiencies to cut costs while still maintaining quality.”
