Radwell International’s Blog

When is surplus the right choice for manufacturers?

Answering this question begins by looking at the current state of the global supply chain and how it has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. Current times have been a constant challenge to the supply chain. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, things worked very differently from the state of today’s supply chain. There are product restrictions, material shortages, and obsolescence for aging equipment that require servicing and maintenance. As a result, doing business as a manufacturer can be a challenge for even the most agile of operations. How can these challenges be overcome to keep a manufacturing operation running smoothly and efficiently? The answer is often surplus equipment and parts.

Obsolescence is an unavoidable part of any manufacturing environment. However, it’s concerning that so many companies admit they do not know when vital equipment requires replacing, or when they do, they scramble to find replacements. The latest developments in additive manufacturing could provide an answer to the obsolescence problems.
Additive manufacturing is a transformative approach to industrial production that enables the creation of components using a variety of 3D-printing techniques.

There are many types of business models commonly utilized. Two business models that get a lot of focus are B2B and B2C models. B2B, which stands for business to business, is a model in which businesses sell products or services to other businesses. The second model is B2C, in which businesses sell products or services directly to consumers. These two business models seem clear in terms of the differences between them. Yet there is a third business model that is growing in popularity for manufacturers that allows typically B2B operations to have direct access to consumers. This business model is called B2B2C.

There’s no one-size-fits-all method to production scheduling. All of your products, processes, and plans are launched with a uniform goal in mind—profitability.

However the most valuable resource your business has isn’t a product or process—although it does start with a “p”.

It’s people—the people who are on the shop floor and the people who ensure timely deliveries and functioning supply chains. Namely, the people who have intimate knowledge of every aspect of the production process.

A supply chain is a series of links between companies and suppliers for the purpose of producing and distributing a product to a final buyer. This network of links includes various entities such as manufacturers, producers, warehouses, logistics services, distribution centers and retailers. When it comes to supply chain management, a healthy supply chain helps get a product successfully and profitably from the planning phases to the end user in a reasonable amount of time. Healthy supply chains help reduce costs for companies as well as help them stay competitive in the marketplace.

These five stages of a supply chain outline the basics of what it takes to transform raw materials into finished products successfully and profitably.

There are many different strategies for equipment maintenance that teams can use to help raise and keep the operational availability (OA) up on the production lines. And every one of those strategies comes at a cost. It’s a balancing act between keeping the right number of technical resources on staff, keeping the lines up and running, and of course, keeping profits up.

Machine vision is making major contributions to the manufacturing sector, primarily by providing automated inspection capabilities as part of quality control procedures. Formerly viewed as barcode readers, these systems now use automated cameras and software to monitor products, collect data, check for inconsistencies, scan labels and perform other functions at high-speeds and without the need for worker intervention.

According to the Automated Imaging Association, machine vision encompasses all industrial and non-industrial applications in which a combination of hardware and software provide operational guidance to devices in the execution of their functions based on the capture and processing of images.

The factory of the future represents a transformation from traditional automation to fully connected and flexible systems using streams of data from connected operations. Production environments learn and adjust to new demands. Here is a framework of six key steps to guide you along that journey, regardless of a plant’s current maturity level.

For manufacturing and infrastructure industries with an automation focus, the increasing use of data to drive analytical insights has forced a convergence of traditional operational technology (OT) with information technology (IT), creating a need for more united implementations. In response, commercial advancements in hardware, software, and networking have been adopted into industrial platforms at an increasing rate.

These trends have been driven by available technology and sophisticated end users who want the same flexibility and convenience offered by consumer applications. However, the path to merging OT with IT has had a few bumps and potholes.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) relies on well-coordinated products and performance in the OT and IT realms. For the progressively overlapping roles of OT and IT to be most effective, it is necessary to merge the strengths of OT and IT disciplines. It’s useful to examines what those strengths are, and how a hybrid OT/IT solution approach can become greater than the sum of its parts.


OT and IT seek to expand constraints

A reality is work performed in OT and IT environments are subjected to unique constraints. One key challenge is traditional hardware and software solutions used by OT and IT evolved from different starting points. They are used by distinct groups of people whose objectives and skill sets were not the same. OT and IT specialists often find themselves out of their element when exposed to common tools used by the other group.

How much is data worth to your business? According to a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the World Economic Forum (WEF), manufacturing companies could save billions by combining their digital records. This article explains the opportunities sharing data creates for manufacturers and the obstacles they may encounter.

While big data and artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the face of industry, BCG and WEF’s research has found they also could produce benefits worth $100 billion for businesses worldwide. This conclusion is based on a survey of 996 manufacturing managers by calculating the savings their various suggestions could bring to manufacturing companies.

Data sharing is considered a viable opportunity by manufacturing managers. Of those surveyed, 72% thought sharing data with other manufacturers would improve operations, while 47% believed optimized assets are the biggest benefit of sharing data more widely. How can this contribute toward billions in savings?