How to build a Smart Manufacturing model

John Clemons, MESA International

The right Smart Manufacturing model can make manufacturers more efficient, make better overall decisions and provide a blueprint for what works.

Many in manufacturing says we’re in the middle of the fourth industrial revolution, and Smart Manufacturing is transforming manufacturing back into an economic powerhouse. What most people see is wave after wave of new technology with no real idea how any of it is supposed to fit together.

MESA has started developing a new Smart Manufacturing model, with the purpose of providing a simple and easy-to-use framework for making sense out of everything that’s part of Smart Manufacturing.

Dennis Brandl, a member of the MESA team building this model, said, “Most people don’t understand how it all fits together. It’s really just a vast state of turbulence with just about every country having its own model for Smart Manufacturing. MESA is cutting through all this fluff to provide a comprehensive Smart Manufacturing model that people can actually use to understand what Smart Manufacturing is all about.”

Manufacturing lifecycle

The new MESA Smart Manufacturing Model will provide a way to look at a company’s manufacturing operations and get a view of the lifecycle of manufacturing. The lifecycles concept is key to the new model. Whether it’s a product lifecycle, an asset lifecycle, or a lifecycle for the manufacturing personnel, this idea of lifecycles is a key to understanding the complete picture of the manufacturing operations and how Smart Manufacturing fits into the picture.

Brandl explains more of the purpose of the Smart Manufacturing model. “It’s fundamentally going to be a way of looking at the problem space to make sure you don’t miss anything. It’s intended to cover everything you need to be concerned with in this space. It will help people decide what to do by helping them ask the hard questions and determine if they really have the answers they need.”

The new MESA Smart Manufacturing model can be thought of as a checklist at the highest level to ensure no one misses any of the key concepts of Smart Manufacturing.

Manufacturing companies can use the new model to make sure they’re dealing with all the issues, especially the ones they haven’t thought of yet. And solution providers can use the new model to make sure they’re providing customers with everything they need.

Reasons for developing a Smart Manufacturing model

Some might ask: “Why? Why is MESA doing this? Aren’t there enough models out there already?”

Yes, there are. Many models cover many aspects of Smart Manufacturing. Each approaches Smart Manufacturing from a specific point of view.

Not all those points of view are bad. Those unfamiliar with Smart Manufacturing may not realize that what they see is based on a particular point of view.

Jan-Christoph Galm, a member of MESA’s EMEA Board of Directors, said, “The idea of the new MESA model for Smart Manufacturing is first and foremost to be transparent. It’s to be totally unbiased with no built-in preconceived notions or points of view on what Smart Manufacturing is. It’s to provide an unbiased view of the vision of the Smart Factory.”

Smart manufacturing terms, a usable model

MESA’s model for Smart Manufacturing will provide a framework to help everyone speak the same language and to get a baseline or foundation on what Smart Manufacturing is. It’s a common model and a common language. The people that use it then agree on what’s what with regards to Smart Manufacturing.

‘MESA’s model for Smart Manufacturing will help everyone speak the same language and understand Smart Manufacturing.’

According to Galm, “The new MESA model will be practical. It does no one any good for MESA to put out another model that only academicians can use. Or a model that only a very few people can get past the first few pages. The MESA model will be practical, for everyone to use, from the shop floor to the top floor, from operations to engineering to IT to management.”

The MESA Smart Manufacturing model will be high-level and low-level while making it easy to navigate from the highest levels to the lowest levels, and back again so people understand what Smart Manufacturing is all about.

Galm said the new model derives from MESA’s roots. “MESA grew up with Manufacturing Execution Systems or MES, and we haven’t forgotten those roots. The new MESA model will be focused on Smart Manufacturing but just as MES is a key part of Smart Manufacturing, MES will be a key part of the new MESA model. It’ll provide not only an understanding of Smart Manufacturing, but an understanding of MES, the benefits of MES, and how MES fits into Smart Manufacturing.”

Bridging the Smart Manufacturing gap for users

Another purpose of the Smart Manufacturing model is bridging the gap between the needs of individual users or practitioners and the various institutions that are trying to define Smart Manufacturing.

Jeff Winter, a subject matter expert on the MESA team building the new Smart Manufacturing model, said, “This is a tremendous opportunity to provide value to people actually working on Smart Manufacturing projects for their companies. You see, there’s lots of Smart Manufacturing models out there, and many of them help you evaluate your company at a high level, for Smart Manufacturing readiness or maturity. But they all have a major failure. They don’t provide a roadmap for you and our Smart Manufacturing project. They simply don’t address the use of the various technologies.”

These existing models aren’t bad, but the problem is they help companies with only part of what they need to be successful. The idea of the new MESA model is to complement these organizations and their models to provide a definitive roadmap for companies and projects to use to know where to go and how to get there with Smart Manufacturing.

How to apply Smart Manufacturing technologies

The new model will help people understand how to approach Smart Manufacturing and understand how Smart Manufacturing fits in their business. With this new model, companies will be able to carve out a path to Smart Manufacturing projects, and ultimately Smart Manufacturing success. They’ll be able to see what Smart Manufacturing is all about, what needs to get done, and how it all impacts the other parts of the company.

Winter said, “The problem with all these models is that they simply don’t address the technologies. For example, digital twin technology is very cool and very powerful, providing companies with significant benefits. But these models don’t explain what it is, when to use it, when not to use, where it fits, and why someone uses it. The models don’t explain what business benefits it achieves, the prerequisites for its use, the challenges to its use, and

what’s really needed to successfully implement it. And that’s just one example. All of these models are deficient in that they don’t address these questions about the technologies – they very technologies that are driving Smart Manufacturing in the first place.”

A neutral Smart Manufacturing model addresses these questions about the technology, providing a roadmap so people can understand when, where, and why to use all these new technologies.

“More than that,” Winter said, “the new model will address the impacts of these technologies to all the other areas of the company such as supply chain, production, networking, cybersecurity, data management, training, personnel, and so on. Because all these technologies have such a big impact on the company as a whole. You have to understand that, and you have to see it coming before you launch off on one of these projects.”

Fundamentally, the new MESA model will provide the roadmap, the steps needed to implement the technology and ultimately be successful with

technologies. Because these technologies Mrequire a level of maturity, companies have to learn to crawl before they walk and walk before they run with Smart Manufacturing. None of the technology is a silver bullet, and much of the technology may not produce any benefits if the company is not ready or if the people are not ready. ce

‘A neutral Smart Manufacturing model provides a technology roadmap so people can understand when, where, and why to use all these new technologies.’

John Clemons is a MESA marketing committee chair, also with Maverick Technologies and Rockwell Automation. This article originally appeared in three parts on MESA International’s blog. MESA International is a CFE Media content partner. Edited by Chris Vavra, web content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, cvavra@cfemedia.com. More

ANSWERS KEYWORDS: Smart ManufacturingKEYWORDS: MESA International is developing a Smart Manufacturing model. The Smart Manufacturing model is designed to neutral and not designed for a specific industry.

The Smart Manufacturing model

also addresses the impacts of technologies to the supply chain, networking and more. ONLINE See additional stories from MESA International at www.controleng.com. CONSIDER THIS What is the most important detail for you in a Smart Manufacturing model?