Manufacturing industry software development

Although in everything that concerns the response to the challenges of the times, the manufacturing industry is one of the most “clumsy” spheres, in the era of expansion of digital technologies, virtual assistants and IT start-ups, the industry is actively mastering the “digital”.

The International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that at least half of all global GDP will be digitalized by 2021. Cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented reality, the Internet of Things – all this has already ceased to be the privilege of such high-tech industries as telecom, IT and finance, and has entered a wide market.

What are the trends in the digitalization of the industry and the already existing cases of the application of high technologies in different industries?

Blockchain

One of the main uses of blockchain in the industry is to create a secure payment system, the main element of which is smart contracts.

In 2017, oil corporations BP, Shell and Statoil (modern Equinor – “High-tech”) developed the VAKT blockchain platform, which was intended to conclude transactions in the process of trading in petroleum products. The platform allowed companies to eliminate paperwork, reduce operating costs and automate trading processes – and two years later, VAKT signed contracts to service 70% of oil transactions in the North Sea.

Blockchain can also be used to verify information: this is the path taken by IBM, which launched the Food Trust platform in 2018, which allows you to obtain the most accurate information about food products. Such giants as Nestle, Carrefour, Unilever and many others have already joined the platform. In addition to food, using the blockchain, you can verify the authenticity of a diamond – such a service is provided by the London-based company Everledger.

Artificial Intelligence

For business, artificial intelligence is primarily an opportunity to automate routine operations, increasing their accuracy many times over. Thus, on the basis of the Russian mining and metallurgical company Norilsk Nickel, there is a whole Digital Laboratory subdivision, which develops AI solutions for production. In particular, the factories use computer vision technology, which monitors the observance of safety regulations by personnel: smart cameras analyze the video stream, determining whether the employee is wearing a helmet, glasses and protective clothing.

AI allowed the company to create a system that detects foreign objects in the stream of ore moving along the conveyor: the program processes the video from the workshop and signals the operator every time it sees garbage on the tape. Unlike a person, a machine does not get tired and cannot be distracted, so the risk of equipment breakdown due to foreign objects getting into it is minimized.

Another important and invaluable AI function for any large corporation with an extensive network of processes is the automation of any accounting systems. If we take another example of Norilsk Nickel, in 2020, together with Particle, it implemented a project on the use of artificial intelligence in the corporate reference information system (NSI), covering a huge number of operations: from accounting and tax accounting to the conclusion of contracts and the filing of applications customers.

Thanks to AI solutions, Norilsk Nickel managed to reduce the budget for contractors when replicating the reference data system to new enterprises, transferring work to smart systems, as well as speeding up procurement processes, increasing the accuracy of work and minimizing financial risks.

Internet of Things

Most of us are familiar with the concept of the Internet of Things in the context of a smart home or medical gadgets like fitness bracelets, but in practice this technology has a much wider range of applications. IoT assumes that various devices – from a coffee maker to a turbine at a factory – when connected to the Internet can communicate with each other and with the external environment, and the entire system can be controlled through any web service, be it a computer program or a mobile application.

The emergence of such technology is quite natural: the number of devices connected to the Internet is growing rapidly. By collecting data on the status of each of them, you get the opportunity to remotely monitor their work. In the industry, the Internet of Things helps to identify faults in time, determine the need for unplanned repairs and prevent large-scale accidents. Already, according to PwC, 35% of manufacturers collect information from smart sensors to optimize production and operational processes.

Thus, the American corporation General Electric back in 2012 installed more than 10 thousand sensors at one of its enterprises, which help to monitor the consumption of materials, control the temperature and pressure in working processes. All this data is received by the plant employees on their tablets using Wi-Fi. In addition, General Electric uses IoT to optimize the operation of turbines in wind power plants: the number of sensors on them reaches about 20 thousand, and the speed of their operation is 400 measurements per second.

Device control isn’t the only IoT function. Accurate information about equipment utilization gives you the opportunity to opt out of selling it to customers, instead giving them its functionality: the volume of the product produced or the number of hours of work. For example, the manufacturer of industrial compressors Kaeser works, which has introduced a system of payment for services according to the volume of compressed air used. The company’s management argued that the air-as-a-service business model allowed them to shift costs from capital expenditures to operating costs.

The transition of industry to digital is inevitable. The development and implementation of new technologies, especially in the absence of “boxed” solutions on the market, requires time, a complete revision of the existing systems of work, huge efforts and financial investments. But the result of their use invariably pays off, increasing the efficiency and productivity of labor, increasing the volume of production and sales, reducing costs, leveling the human factor. All this greatly facilitates the work of the company and gives it a significant competitive advantage in the market.