Assignment 2: The Presentation

CC: David Walter, Company Executive

From: Janella Lawton, Cyber Analyst

Subject: The Implementation of the Industry 4.0 Factory Cloud

Date: 24 August 2018.

The ABC factory has over 50 manufacturing plants in 16 countries which is becoming increasingly difficult to manage all the distributed information generated form all the manufacturing branches. The factory is looking to implement a cloud based web server within the next 3 years. This cloud based web server will transfer all distributed factory functionalities from the 50 manufacturing plants into one central location (Truong, 2010). The new cloud based factory will allow the 50 manufacturing plants in over 16 countries to:-

1. Communicate directly with each other from any geographic location through a web platform.

2. Aggregate all the factory data into one centralized location to improve the traditional task automation process.

3. Standardize the output of mass produced wheel components.

Changes in product offering

The factory to shop web service will be implementation using the Industrie 4.0 factory cloud computing platform (Thoben, Wiesner, & Wuest, 2017). This will result in new products offerings, an interconnected supply chain management system and a lean manufacturing process. The new industrie portal will:-

a) Increase factory visibility.

The new web service includes industry 4.0 technologies will allow smart manufacturing within the factory using technologies such as robotics, IoT (internet of things) and artificial intelligence among others. The new web platform will include a digital e-commerce site to allow commercial businesses to order for wheel components directly from the factory (Jungck & Rahman, 2015). This ecommerce site will capture 90 % of businesses that are currently acquiring their wheel components using web platforms. This will further automate the sales process for small consumers who are willing to order for batch delivery of the factory wheel components. This means that over 60% of the sales cycle will be completed automatically through the online platform. The website will feature a self service and support module that will enhance the order online entry process, warranty claims management and the tracking of order delivery schedules.

b) Incorporate intelligent supply chain management tools.

The new cloud based portal will incorporate an intelligent supply chain management tools to the manufacturing process. To better handle the challenges of changing customer demand that leads to overstocking or under stocking of wheel components. The factory will implement a cloud based ERP (enterprise resource planning) system to connect all the machines within the factory to the clod platform. The factory inventory information will be stored in a cloud for easy visibility with vendors and suppliers. Sensors such as the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags will allow the company to monitor the level of inventory held within the warehouses. During each production cycle machines will send signals to the ERP system recording each part new wheel component produced. The system will record the amount of raw materials consumed during the production cycle and send this information to the external suppliers (Ezell & Swanson, 2017). These external suppliers will use the ABC factory online supply portal to fulfill the procurement process for new materials.

Addressing the shifting customer demands

The company is looking to introduce the smart shelving for automobile assembly plants that use systems that are compatible with the factory ERP (enterprise resource planning) system. This smart shelving technology will allow the ABC factory to analyze the vehicle manufacturing plants that are ready to have their wheel components replenished. The amount of connectivity and information exchange between the factory and the automobile assembly plants will enable the factory to offer tailor made products suitable for different automobile consumer segments. This will further increase the competitive advantage of the manufacturing plants based in the 16 different countries by reducing the cost of production.

In order to address the challenge of fluctuating customer demands and the fluctuating factory productivity faced traditional manufacturing factories. The plant will implement the portable factory feature in the website self-service component. This will reduce the factory dependence on fixed location manufacturing plants. The portable factory will keep up with the changing needs of car owners and automobile assembly plants by allowing online merchants to create small scale warehouses closer to the customers. These small scale warehouses will adapt to the changing consumer demands by developing delivery policies of less than 12 hours. This will be in great contrast to the current delivery model that takes from 2 days to 3 months depending on the volume of the order. These warehouses will be supplied with inventory from the large manufacturing facilities therefore fulfilling the market demand for wheel components.

The new web capabilities

In July 2017 the company experienced its first major inventory shortage when it could not meet the supply for over 50% of the factory customer segments in the automobile assembly lines and repair shops. The poor co-ordination between the factory warehouses and the automobile assembly factories led to delays in order deliveries that resulted in dis-satisfied customers. The incompatible nature of the ERP systems used by the 50 manufacturing plants based in 16 countries made it difficult for ABC factory to effectively deliver these customer orders. Using the cloud based ERP (enterprise resource planning) system the employees will be able to access the factory inventory using secure remote access systems. The easy transfer of information from the different manufacturing plants into a centralized information system will allow the company to incorporate better demand tracking capabilities and order delivery mechanisms. The factory will be able to manage its inventory capacity using real time data.