Accelerating the Industry 4.0 journey
The train is leaving the station, and manufacturers need to get on board before it is too late.
The window of time for manufacturers to implement i4.0 solutions is shrinking. Automation has increased 85% in the last five years. Competitors from all over the globe are modernizing factories at an astounding rate, with an estimated 2.1 billion internet-connected components deployed in India alone. Advanced automation and data exchange will soon be necessary to stay relevant.
Manufacturers who fall behind the curve are vulnerable to competitors with faster, more efficient, and more cost-effective production capability. But it is not too late to start the Industry 4.0 journey. There is even good news for manufacturers just beginning the trip: The path to i4.0 is now clearer than ever. To avoid being left behind, manufacturers should follow these steps.
What steps must be taken to reach i4.0?
Get the data. All the data.
How manufacturers collect data matters. In the complex interactions on the factory floor, opportunity is lost when you can’t see the root cause of problems. Your manufacturing execution system (MES) knows what should have happened on the production line, but the subsequent detective work can require cumbersome manual effort.
The ArchFX platform knows the complete details of every event in every component of production, in real time. It uses Industry 4.0 data collection tools to extract every piece of production data from every machine in operation, creating the expert data that feeds advanced manufacturing analytics.
Arch’s advanced factory connectivity can speed production, reduce errors, and improve overall production efficiency.
With ArchFX Connectors in place, manufacturers accelerate production and improve efficiency, because rich machine data is collected from each machine without the need for repetitive manual collection processes.
Unify the data. Transform it into expert data.
Collecting data is just the first step. The typical factory has equipment in use from a variety of vendors and eras. All this rich machine data speaks different languages, so without the right tools in place, the cumbersome manual data collection process has been exchanged for an equally arduous translating effort.
The ArchFX Broker transforms and standardizes all incoming machine data in real-time, making it universally usable and eliminating bad data in the process. The result is expert data available immediately for processing and analytics.
Use expert data to create expert-level insights.
Expert data enables expert-level insights. With information available in real-time, ArchFX React can extract, process, and decipher exactly the metrics that matter. Performance is immediately visible to experts.
Alongside automated processing, these insights create clarity for operations by bringing together human judgment and machine analysis. The experts on the factory floor spend their time leveraging that expertise, not dwelling on monotonous, repetitive tasks. The ArchFX platform frees the production team to focus on improvement and paves the way for operational excellence.
Industry 4.0 technology takes expert insights and puts them into action.
The culmination of any Industry 4.0 initiative needs to be better decision intelligence. What if a manufacturing technology solution could be trained by the production team to understand the specific production environment, then speed up actions to improve it? With the ArchFX platform in place, decisions can be driven not just by data alone, but by industry best practices and local expertise. ArchFX helps find production issues and areas for improvement. The system can go beyond that to proactively recommend actions that reduce downtime. This capability makes ArchFX the beating heart of intelligent manufacturing, accelerating and improving decision making that drives productivity.
A trusted partner for the Industry 4.0 journey
ArchFX uses expert data to provide insights into each unique factory line. With connections to an unprecedented variety of machines, ArchFX collects rich data about every machine action on the factory floor. It organizes and centralizes all of this data, making it immediately available to the tools and people that need it.
The Arch platform understands the factory, its machines, and the data they provide.
Arch has built a premier team of manufacturing experts and data scientists to map new signals in the data — changing how manufacturers tackle their most complex problems. Arch partners with manufacturers to provide the tools needed for their Industry 4.0 journey.