The process of manufacturing products has evolved over the last century from the manual production of products to automation of all production processes. Nowadays, companies such as Siemens are taking advantage of Industry 4.0 as well as e-commerce to increase efficiency and sales. Because of the many benefits of digitalization, many large businesses are becoming digital enterprises to stay in the game.
What Are The Benefits?
- Being up to date with the latest trends in technology will give you the opportunity to face your biggest competitors. The need for digitalization and e-commerce is constantly increasing, and it is the only way for traditional large companies to make sure they meet the new standards.
- A major contributor to the push in companies wanting to digitalize is the customer. With so many tech companies, the need to provide services and products to customers is very important. Therefore, with new technologies and great e-commerce platform, you will improve customer support and their overall experience.
- E-commerce may offer a good opportunity to increase sales and profits. Switching to digitalization does not mean you must ditch your traditional methods. It just means incorporating both types to get the best possible benefits and meet the needs of customers. You have to be familiar with the needs your customers and provide what they want.
Digitalization can be useful for all types of businesses, including medium and large businesses. Whether you are a recumbent large enterprise or a medium size one, there is a way to incorporate digitalization and help you improve and increase the overall success of your business.
Useful Features of Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 and traditional manufacturing when used together have a great chance of making your business a successful digital enterprise. Some features of Industry 4.0 that may lead to this include:
- Vertical Networking
Vertical networking utilizes CPPS (Cyber-physical Production Systems) to detect changes in plants,allowing for fast changes to be made in relation to the manufacturing of products. This enables businesses to quickly meet the demands of customers, allowing swift shifts in production. CPPS creates autonomous control of production and maintenance.
With vertical networking, there is interconnection of resources and products, allowing access at any time and place that is convenient. This system makes it easier for early machinery malfunction detection, which further helps companies to solve a problem before it gets worse. In such a way, you not only save money but also time. In general, CPPS will help improve work efficiency both in terms of your employees as well as machinery.
- Horizontal Integration
Horizontal integration works by generating new value chains that enable transparency once you integrate industry 4.0. The main purpose of horizontal integration is to allow businesses to efficiently respond to problems with immediate solutions. Horizontal integration includes both local and global networks that work through CPPS.
This creates a “product memory” by interconnecting logistics, warehousing, production, marketing, and sales. There is more efficiency and flexibility with horizontal integration. As with vertical networking, this feature can help guide in not only manufacturing a product on demand, but also customer adaptations such as ordering of products.
- Exponential Technologies
These help speed up solutions, make businesses more flexible, and reduce overall costs. It involves using Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics to provide automation of manufacturing processes, and sensor technologies to help improve flexibility. AI is not only being used by the movie industry. It is also used for manufacturing as well as increasing gross value added (GVA). Industrial Artificial Intelligence helps businesses to increase productivity and get an insight on what to provide customers with. This is mostly achieved through smart analytics. It also provides easy access to cloud services for data.
- Through-engineering Across Value Chains
The main function of this feature is to have data easily accessible at all levels of production and distribution. The manufacturing of products is coordinated with systems, establishing better links between the production process and the product itself. It increases a business’s flexibility to adopt new business model prototypes and adjust the production stage of goods according to what is required.
Important Considerations
It is not only important for a business to adopt digital trade, but it is necessary to know how to use it to the fullest to obtain the best results. One thing about technology is that it is always evolving.
Staying updated is then a priority when it comes to technology, as it can determine whether you stay on top of the game or succumb to other competitors who are always willing to make the necessary changes that come with digitalization. Here are things you need to do to make sure you are always up-to-date:
- Look for partners who will help you be innovative
- Use corporate venturing to increase innovation, provide protection from failure, and as a way of finding new talent
- Use the best key performance indexes (KPIs) that will help you track your business’s progress
- Build teams of competent leaders and talented and skilled staff
- Have the right structure and equipment that will help employees to work in a good environment,
- Always encourage and motivate your employees to explore all the opportunities that come with digitalization.
Many businesses are opening an online store in addition to the traditional store to increase sales. A start for big companies in sales is proper management of inventory and efficient management of capital and profits.
This can be done through e-commerce platforms that incorporate both B2B and B2C tools, allowing for better communication and transactions between business partners and customers.
Opportunities to boost sales and increase profits can be done by:
- Integrating customer need to the production process to retain and gain new customers. Use e-commerce platforms that allow you to monitor trends in consumer demands to direct manufacturing of goods. Also with digitalization it is easy for you to get consumer feedback. This allows businesses to improve product and service quality.
- Get the right security as business digitalization, including how to store data that may lead to increased risk of cyberattacks. A cyberattack can lead to malfunctions in systems and even complete stop or abruption in manufacturing. An example of a dangerous cyberattack is Petya, which affected many businesses in 2017. An appropriate security strategy and effective management could reduce or prevent cyberattacks.
- Through e-commerce platforms like social commerce and mobile commerce, you can attract a lot of social media users, as you are able to advertise your products to them. Product marketing is also simplified as it can be done on the internet.
Security for Industry 4.0
Because digitization increases the risk of cyberattacks and hacker stealing your data, investing in security is of utmost importance. There is great news about cyberattacks. Digitalization also provides you with the security that you need to keep your data secure while allowing you to easily retrieve it when needed. Here are some securities that can be helpful.
- Threat Protection Services
These include Data Center Security, Control Compliance Suite, Critical System Protection and Email and Web Security. Data Center Security offers server protection and compliance as well as hardening ICS control systems. On the other hand, Control Compliance Suite offers security for procedural and all technical control. Email and Web Security allows large enterprises to secure the gateway control points to Email and Web with on-premise or cloud services.
- Data Protection
Examples include VIP (Validation and Information Protection). It grants businesses and organizations a secure access to company networks and Encryption, providing confidential data protection to businesses, specially manufacturing ones. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) can also be used to offer protection as it detects data from endpoints, mobiles and storage systems, including the cloud.
- Cyber Security Services
Cyber Security Services (CSS) is used to improve security, specially in small companies. It prevents hackers from getting into your system controls and offers insight on what security measures should be taken.
Conclusion
The importance of digitalization and Industry 4.0 is unimaginable, and tapping into this great potential can be very beneficial for you. However, it might be a little tricky at first and that is why you need to have a good strategy before you start. Come up with a business model that will be the backbone on how to conduct business activities, and do not be afraid to be innovative.
Perform frequent software updates to always help you work the best possible way. Make sure you have enough revenue and income to invest in the technology you need. Look for skilled personnel or better yet, keep your employees and train them on all the changes that come with digitalization.
Encourage your staff and motivate them to bring out their skills and talent. All of these things will only elevate your business to a higher position and keep you going, giving you the chance to expand and explore new avenues to invest in.
