DECEMBER 202119MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTSgrowing the capabilities of our people ­ what we refer to as the "pen & paper" phase, and only once this is achieved can the benefits of introducing and investing in more innovative digital and technical solutions be truly maximized. As the program matures, the emphasis on capabilities relating to digital maturity and technology increases. Getting it right from the start: People capabilities and competencies as the key elements for sustainable performance The Manufacturing of the Future program is strictly connected to people capability building. We are rolling out digital competencies at all levels of manufacturing organization - leaders, solutions designers, end users, and investing more than 100 hours per year per person to develop capabilities using the Learn-Do-Teach approach. With around 33,000 people working across our 36 factories, this is no small undertaking. But we know that without the full involvement of our people globally, we can't move to the manufacturing of the future in a sustainable way.A global manufacturing transformation requires a solid Internet of Things (IoT) InfrastructureTo support our manufacturing transformation and harness the power of data both now and in the future, we installed a cloud-based global IoT infrastructure that enables us to design and deploy global solutions across all our factories simultaneously. Using state-of-the-art technology, the IoT infrastructure is built up of four layers: an enterprise and corporate layer with global systems, data science and visualization; an operational layer with intelligent products and services which communicates with the process control layer where the industrial cloud foundation is laid; and finally, the factory floor level with IoT, smart devices, machines, laboratory equipment, and intelligent things and technologies. Putting it into practice: Self-learning algorithm for the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) systemSo far, we have undertaken more than 20 Manufacturing of the Future use cases focusing on some standard elements including predictive maintenance, augmented reality, etc. The following example stands out as it focuses on an area with typically longer ROI and showcases a seamless integration of people capabilities, sustainability, technology, and digital elements.Some of our manufacturing processes require the environment temperature control to ensure that our products maintain their quality and humidity. This is achieved through HVAC system. However, 800+ HVAC units spread across our 36 factories use different kinds of temperature-moisture-humidity control technologies and represent up to 21 percent of the annual global utilities cost. After investigating different opportunities and approaches, we developed a self-learning algorithm that optimizes the energy consumption and integrated it in the process of climatic control across all connected factories. By connecting sensors for all data sources within the HVAC process (750 tags, from 5 sources), real-time info is collected, analyzed, and used to inform the algorithm. From there, we defined a standard deployment package to be installed in all our factories worldwide.The solution to date has achieved a 24 percent cost reduction and an 18 percent reduction in CO2 emissions vs. the initial base - all within an ROI window below 6 months. We achieved this by maximizing the efficiency of existing HVAC units without making big investments. All HVAC units are now centrally connected so that we can deploy any future improvements or upgrades faster. After few months of our Manufacturing of the Future program roll-out, we saw that both the vision and the reason for change are critical for the organization's adoption of change, new solutions, and new capabilities. Weare also reassured that the right approach is to focus on long term vision while creating the momentum with use cases' pilots. Alessio Preti
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