EVERYTHING IS IN CONTROL: TOWARDS SMART FACTORY WITH BASIC ENTERPRISE AUTOMATION

Robotic process and intelligence automation tools can help businesses improve the effectiveness of services faster at a lower cost than current methods. Classic process candidates that can benefit from robotic process automation (RPA) typically have repeatable and predictable interactions with IT applications including those that may require toggling between multiple applications.

RPA MORE WITH LESS

Rather than requiring fundamental process redesign associated with IT-driven transformation, RPA software “robots” are able to perform such routine business processes by mimicking the way that people interact with applications through a user interface and also by following simple rules to make decisions. An example of a routine business process would be retrieval of information from one system and entering the same information into another system or activating another system function.

In most companies, there are many routine processes performed manually that lack the scale or value to warrant automation via IT transformation, but for which macros and other such desktop automation tools are too limited to effectively address. RPA can help address this gap, reducing the minimum viable scale of process automation compare to other traditional options. Companies using RPA solutions typically experience benefits beyond cost reduction such as decreased cycle times and improved throughput, flexibility and scalability, improve accuracy, improved employee morale, and detailed data capture, according to Deloitte’s analysis.

ADJUSTING WORK-WORKER ECOSYSTEM

Among human resource professionals in global firms surveyed by Deloitte, adopting RPA would lead to an introduction of a digital workforce with unbeatable capabilities to handle transactional activities. The implementation of RPA will require new organizational structures as well as adaptation to existing ones, such disbanding or displacement of certain functions, changes in department scope and team, etc.

Whereas some functions and roles will change significantly or disappear altogether, new roles will emerge, such as robot controller to manage scheduling and process monitoring and process robotics developers to maintain modeled processes when applications change and to be the robot controller’s first point of contact in the case of problem or other issues.

TOWARDS SMART FACTORY

Smart factory is a flexible system that can self-optimize performance across a broader network, self-adapt to and learn from new condition in real or near-real time, and autonomously run entire production processes. The specific impacts of the smart factory on manufacturing processes will likely be different for each organization.

Deloitte has identified a set of advance technologies that typically facilitate the flows of information and movement between the physical and digital worlds. These technologies power the digital supply network and, by extension, the smart factory with capabilities to create new opportunities to digitize production processes. It is important for manufacturers to understand how they intend to compete and align their digitization and smart factory investment accordingly.

In practice, investments in smart factory often start with a focus on specific opportunities. Once identified, digitization and insight generation fuel actions that can drive new value. Building and scaling the smart factory, nevertheless, can be agile and flexible as the concept itself. Manufacturers can get started down the path to a true smart factory at any level of their network. It is more effective to start small, test out concepts in a manageable environment, and then scale once lessons have been learned. Once achieved, the solution can scale to additional assets, production lines, and factories, thus creating a potentially exponential value creation opportunity.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE

Companies that exclude RPA and other forms of automation as a component of their work ecosystem would forego significant opportunities to enjoy efficiency, quality enhancement, risk mitigation, innovation, and growth. Adopting RPA is by itself an organizational transformation as companies, to certain extent, are going through re-structuring and re-engineering. Therefore,, training, education, and re-skilling are critical to assist the transformation.