Despite the term manufacturing coming from the word “manu” which means using your hands, most of the manufacturing today is done through technology. Productivity dramatically increased in the past few years in the world of manufacturing thanks to industrial robots and artificial intelligence.
Technology and manufacturing have gone hand-in-hand since the Industrial Revolution. Humans across the globe have always looked for an easier way to produce new things. From the cotton gin to the paper mill, manufacturing hasn’t slowed down in centuries. Today, there are 4 technologies that have changed the process for good. Since the introduction of these, the industry itself has shifted for good. Let’s take a closer look at the tech that’s making an impact today.
- 3D Printing
When most people consider the innovations that changed manufacturing and production, the first thing to come to mind is 3D printing. With 3D printing, it’s easy to overcome most of the typical challenges of manufacturing. For instance, it’s simple to change your design and tweak aspects of 3D printed products. You no longer need to produce a large quantity to keep the costs low, so it’s great for making low-volume projects.
Its true 3D printing is still expensive and in its early stages. However, it’s expected to become even bigger in the next few years. When it comes to rapid tooling, prototype and low volume injection molding services China by 3ERP, you can’t go wrong. There’s no stopping the growth of printing services in manufacturing.
- Cloud Computing
Most businesses today have already shifted to cloud computing. It’s more flexible, easy to use, and encourages collaboration across teams. It’s no surprise it’s making itself a home in manufacturing as well. This is just another essential component of modern manufacturing. When manufacturing companies use outdated, on-premise platforms, they need to constantly upgrade, maintain, and re-invest their efforts just to keep up with the competition.
There’s no room today to fall behind. The question of whether to move to cloud computing is itself outdated. Everyone needs to make the transition to keep up with the reality of business today. Cloud computing makes your business a unified front, and it’s easy to manage data across several locations. You can focus more on what you do best: manufacturing.
- Data Analytics
Another important component of today’s manufacturing technology is data analytics. The manufacturers who stay away from big data are the companies that will not survive in the future. Big data helps make smart decisions, predict customer behavior, and create a more efficient system. Data scientists help break down this data in a way that’s useful for any industry, especially manufacturing.
Data analytics isn’t a function on its own. It’s often combined with artificial intelligence to add a layer of machine learning. This artificial intelligence can predict future trends and help with decision making. While it’s still not possible to predict the future, data analytics helps us get one step closer.
- Nanotechnology
Though this technology is still lagging behind other mainstream trends like artificial intelligence, it’s not to be overlooked. Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular, or supramolecular level. You don’t have to be a scientist to understand why this is valuable. When manufacturers can enhance materials on a base level in this way, they last longer, work better and have more technological applications.
This can refer to literally anything. Imagine a wool sweater that’s warmer or a computer that has a faster processor and better memory. These things will soon be possible. While this technology is mostly being used today for space engineering and biotechnology, it’s headed for manufacturing in the near future. Imagine how powerful this ability to affect a material on a molecular level will be on our world. For now, nanotechnology is still a few years away from becoming more mainstream, but we’ll all be anxiously waiting for it to make an appearance.
Changing the World of Manufacturing
There are a lot of benefits to the rise of technology in manufacturing. Not only will manufacturers have more options for producing high quality, customizable products, but consumers will have more options than ever before. It’s easy to brush off these trends as making humans more and more obsolete in the world of machine manufacturing.
However, no matter how many machines we introduce, we’ll always need humans in this industry. The difference is a shift in the culture around manufacturing. While we’ll need fewer individuals working in assembly lines, we’ll need more coders and scientists to make better computers to work these systems.
There is no use resisting any changes in manufacturing or any other industry. They’re inevitable, and they’ll help every aspect of business run smoother. For the time being, let’s learn more about these trends and how we can embrace them in our own practices.
