Flexible Manufacturing and its Importance for Companies

What is Flexible Manufacturing?

The concept of flexible manufacturing describes the entirety of all technical/organizational measures that enable a manufacturing company to change, reorganize or otherwise adapt aspects of production at short notice. 

In contrast, “classic” production tends to be rigid and linear, with specific individual production lines. If adjustments are to be made here or individual machines are to be converted or capacities used differently, this is usually associated with much greater effort, as neither machines nor processes are designed for this.

The Relevance of Flexible Manufacturing - What Makes the Concept so Important 

The prospective conversion of in-house production towards flexible manufacturing can bring a number of advantages for companies.

Customer Requirements

With increasingly complex production orders or specific requirements, companies must ensure that they can continue to meet these customer demands in the future - without long machine changeover times. The systematic changeover to significantly more flexible production helps companies to keep pace with such change processes.

Time-to-Market

Efficient production is a key factor in being able to provide finished products or product components quickly and bring them to market. The sooner companies can offer products on the (domestic or international) market (short time-to-market), the better the prospects of securing relevant market shares in the respective product fields.

Adaptation & Competitiveness

In view of the quantity and variety of products manufactured in the manufacturing industry, the ability of individual companies to flexibly handle a whole range of such orders represents an obvious competitive advantage. At the same time, companies with flexible production can also react more quickly to new regulatory requirements or supply bottlenecks and adapt their production to new circumstances.

Digitalization in Production

Countless data streams are already flowing together in modern manufacturing companies. Powerful MES software is essential in order to harness this data. This enables the efficient use of many accompanying technologies, such as digital twins and the like, and makes them profitable - while also creating the basic prerequisites for flexible production.

Continuity of Production

The best possible utilization of machine capacity is required to ensure the economic efficiency of production facilities. At best, this must be ensured at all times and at the same time take necessary maintenance measures into account. Flexible production therefore also takes into account aspects of predictive maintenance for precise planning of downtimes.

From the efficient use of resources, including low surpluses, to increasing the quality of manufactured products - the integration of flexible manufacturing systems into your own production will be a necessity for companies in the future. We would be happy to support you and your company in this.

Dimensions of Flexible Manufacturing

When it comes to flexibility within production, it makes sense to look at and analyze individual sub-areas separately. This is a good way to work out which dimensions of flexibility exist and how they influence actual production.

• Flexibility of Processes
  Flexible production does not work according to a strict pattern, but allows processes to be adapted according to the circumstances and the order situation. The process that allows an order to be successfully completed without compromising on quality is selected.

• Flexibility of Time
  Flexible production systems enable precise planning that ensures production processes are completed on time. Aspects such as possible breakdowns or maintenance intervals etc. are also taken into account on the basis of machine data. Thanks to versatile tools, other factors such as seasonal orders can also be planned and (de)prioritized.

• Flexibility of the Staff
  Many tasks within production are optimized and standardized to such an extent that specialists can focus exclusively on truly urgent and business-critical incidents. The optimized planning of all processes also eliminates the need for expensive overtime at best.

• Flexibility of the Technology
  The integration of MES systems into the production process is already standard in many cases. However, from a technical perspective, a consistently flexible production system can be developed and scaled almost indefinitely with the help of a suitable modular system. This ranges from integrated material management right through to cloud computing.

Companies should at least consider these four dimensions of flexibility when evaluating the concept of more flexible production. In practice, this concept can both make processes easier for companies and reduce operating costs - across several levels.

Flexible Production - Challenges in Implementation

What sounds clear and logical in theory brings with it a number of challenges and problems when it comes to integrating it into everyday business life. This applies in particular to the following areas:

Complexity of Production

The larger a company is and the more orders it fulfills (multinationally), the more complex production becomes. When various resources are available, it may be necessary to consider several supply chains with several intermediate stations, which cannot be mapped with 100% transparency. 

This leaves uncertainties and inefficiencies along the value chain, which should be minimized as far as possible through appropriate control mechanisms (reporting / KPIs, etc.).

Data Silos / Information Silos

The difficulty of obtaining accurate, real-time data about processes is often found within the company itself. Flexible production requires efficient and comprehensive data exchange across all departments.

However, this is often not practiced because neither the necessary awareness nor the technical systems are in place. In most cases, these structures have grown historically and must first be broken up in a targeted manner.

Interface Problems

Technology often stands in the way of efficient exchange between departments. Flexible production depends on (real-time) data, but problems with interfaces can make it significantly more difficult to provide information between ERP, MES and the store floor level.

In some cases, this can be due to incompatible files or differing standards. This inevitably leads to inefficiencies in the provision/evaluation of information and can also promote errors (in data transfer).

Shortage of Skilled Workers

At the same time, the intention to establish flexible production is often hampered by the fact that companies lack the necessary skilled workers. This is because the correct integration and linking of IT and machines requires interdisciplinary skills on the part of employees.

Manufacturing companies are therefore also faced with the challenge of recruiting skilled workers or actively developing existing staff in this direction. Both processes tie up valuable resources.

Flexible Manufacturing in Practice - How the Concept Works

Despite all the challenges, the basic principle of flexible production is already being used successfully by numerous companies. Wherever it is used, the following aspects are of central importance

• Real-Time Data
  Once data silos have been eliminated and interface problems solved, real-time data from the entire production process is available to companies at a central location. Modern sensor technology makes it possible to precisely record the most important machine data for later evaluation, even for older machines. 

  In addition, the high availability of machine data also ensures that performance parameters of individual machines (or entire production sites) are now easier to compare and quantify. This creates the necessary level of transparency.

• Adaptive Planning
  The principle is simple: changing conditions result in changes to production. Flexible manufacturing systems are designed to be able to plan adjustments in production even in the event of sudden changes (unexpected machine failure / delays at suppliers).

• Autonomous Decision-making 

  Intelligent planning is ineffective if no one makes decisions based on this planning. Thanks to advances in the field of AI, development in this area is increasingly moving towards AI systems that make (semi-)autonomous decisions based on the information provided.

  For example, an AI can use available machine data to decide that certain machines are under- or over-utilized and redistribute tasks accordingly. Or it can arrange for maintenance jobs to be brought forward because certain machine data shows anomalies.

It is clear that, for manufacturing companies in particular, the most flexible production possible - presumably also supported by AI - will be a key competitive factor. Optimum digital networking at all levels is a basic prerequisite for this. We at GFOS would be happy to support your company in this - please get in touch with us.