Digital Transformation within Manufacturing Industry
Leveraging Microsoft solutions to help manufacturers digitally transform and comply with industry regulations as a cloud-first enterprise.
Historically, industries have been shaped long-term by the short-term changes taken during global crises. Disruptions introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic are clearly showing signs of accelerating long-term changes.
We’ve seen manufacturers, both big and small, move from early experiments with IoT and machine learning to a state of rapid adoption and scale. Advanced technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, mixed reality, and digital twin enable manufacturers to enhance digital factories, monetize connected products and services, create new service lines, reduce costs, become more sustainable, and comply with regulations.
Cloud-based platforms, tools, and services—in particular, the trusted cloud offerings provided by Microsoft—give manufacturers new ways to grow, innovate, and boost their operational excellence. These technologies are helping manufacturers more effectively engage their customers, empower their employees, optimize their operations, and transform their products and services. This cloud-driven digital transformation is what is driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution and capturing the benefits of this transformation is essential for manufacturers to sustain and sharpen their competitive strengths in an “Industry 4.0” economy. Among other benefits, cloud-based services can equip manufacturers to better meet customer needs by integrating data from multiple sources—including customer interactions, product performance monitoring, and social networks—and using that data to provide fresh insights into market behavior and customer activity across the product lifecycle. These services help manufacturers attain greater visibility into customer buying patterns and preferences, enabling them to develop and deliver value-added products and services that are more closely aligned to customer preferences. Cloud-based technologies can also increase worker productivity and connectedness and facilitate faster, better decision-making.
As an example, cloud-based business intelligence tools can allow employees to view and manage data in a visual and intuitive manner, and in real time— enabling them to take more evidence-based and timely decisions at all levels of production, operations, and sales. Similarly, cloud analytics tools can reduce the time and expense of analyzing large amounts of product data, and thereby help reduce production costs. In addition, cloud-powered data analytics can optimize factory operations by equipping people with the data and tools they need to identify areas of waste, improve cycle times for manufacturing operations, make automation processes faster and easier, maintain equipment more efficiently by more accurately predicting maintenance needs, dynamically realign production to meet changing demands, and increase turn-times for inventory across the value chain—all while reducing energy consumption. These tools also offer better visibility into product performance, enabling manufacturers to more effectively manage a pipeline of ideas and align them with strategic priorities to bring new and innovative products and services to market quickly, increasing competitiveness and customer value
The Challenge
Manufacturers must embrace technology that offers agility in the supply chain to quickly respond to changes in environment, customer preferences, competitive forces, or unforeseen crises.
The Solution
The Azure Cloud enables manufacturers to harness data to unlock new efficiencies, reduce costs, and increase the resilience of the supply chain.
Microsoft tools enable manufacturers to drive business transformation and achieve growth and greater social responsibility through digital technology. Microsoft’s cutting-edge technology solutions help those in the manufacturing space design for sustainability throughout the value chain and lifecycle of their products and services – helping create safer and more agile factories and resilient supply chains, unlocking innovation through sustainable products and services, and engaging customers and their workforce in new ways. With intelligent manufacturing, businesses can eliminate waste and engineer better outcomes for all your stakeholders.
Manufacturing a better future with Microsoft
Discover five ways to digitally transform your business to manufacture a better future with Microsoft.
To learn more about how we can help your organization become more efficient and profitable by investing in technology, please contact us today.
