Cars Of The Future Need Factories Of The Future
The automotive sector is being increasingly disrupted by new technological paradigms that are shaping the way towards a radically different future. Technologies such as 3D Printing, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain, among others, hold the potential to transform the entire automotive value chain - from plan to design, production, sales, and service. These new technologies are even changing the legacy business models as connected, autonomous, self-driving, electric vehicles, and shared mobility becomes the norm worldwide.
From that perspective, it is an exciting time for auto industry players. The industry has become a laboratory of innovation with auto businesses increasingly trying to bring these technologies together for building next-gen products and smart manufacturing processes. Now, let’s deep dive into how manufacturing is getting disrupted by these technologies. Blurring the line between physical, digital and human roles, Industry 4.0 is driving tectonic shifts in automotive production systems, exerting profound changes in people and processes.
Digital Transformation of the Indian Auto Industry
Forward-thinking leaders in the Indian auto industry are embracing innovative approaches that allow a single, connected factory to build a range of vehicles driven by the design, make and sell anywhere strategy on a global plant floor. This creates exceptional value and delight for car buyers who are demanding increasingly superior experiences.
Data-driven insights will optimize production, order management and shipment with minimal human intervention. Advanced analytical models and cloud computing are other critical pieces that will help monetize data across globally connected ecosystems. Modern tools like these will harness data-driven insights from the customer, supplier, and equipment, to deliver a superior experience.
This enables the ecosystem to autonomously sense the context, adapt to constraints and take necessary action to meet the desired business goals.
In addition, legacy assembly lines are also getting intelligent as data is integrated across production sites to ensure interoperability based on standardized rules, dynamic customer demands and flexible processes managed from a smart factory environment. The addition of AR/VR technology into the mix is also helping engineers manage remote facilities very easily.
All of this will ultimately translate into standardized modular processes and systems that work towards reducing inventory, optimizing costs and driving profits for OEMs.
Mobility should be sustainable in the front-end and back-end
When anyone talks about sustainable mobility, we think about electric and connected cars which reduce the dependency on fossil fuels and make our planet greener. Building next-gen cars in legacy factories are nothing but ironic!
Leading global engineering service providers are working towards this goal through rapid innovations in full vehicle design, lightweight, electric vehicles, and smart manufacturing to reduce the carbon footprint of both vehicles and factories. However, sustainability in operations through energy conservation and green initiatives within smart factories needs to become a strategic imperative for OEMs to really make this transformation.
The Road Ahead
To seize the future, manufacturers have to take the leap of faith and start now to build the necessary infrastructure for creating the factories of the future. This will ultimately help them transcend the economies of scale, assemble customized products and improve quality through timely interventions. They also need to partner with engineering service providers that are aligned with this vision.
At the end of the day, manufacturers need to integrate better processes, design thinking and most of all people that are truly passionate about building the vehicles of the future – and that happens best in a smart factory!
