Achieve Operational Excellence By Using Digital Manufacturing

Republished By Plato

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Manufacturing will be transforming faster than ever before in the next few years, writes Guy Denis, business development, Bosch Software and Digital Solutions. As the ninth largest manufacturing nation by the value of GDP, the UK still has global reach and impact. Manufacturers have a desire for change, to reap the benefits of digitalisation and Industry 4.0 and to evolve traditional manufacturing with adaptive, flexible manufacturing. This trend is supported by a recent research report, which found that 96% of companies are using at least one next-generation technology.

Multiple challenges face UK manufacturing and are driving necessary change. For example, with rising costs and depleting reserves, energy optimisation is a critical focus for manufacturers. An overdependency on non-UK sources is also a factor and many companies are rapidly adapting to use other localised power sources like renewables.

Necessity is the mother of invention

Bosch is working closely with leading UK manufacturers to enable their adoption of this rapidly changing technology landscape in order to benefit from Industry 4.0 and IoT, as well as to offset some of the issues created by a global marketplace. Some of the key areas of involvement include:

Modernisation and investment – Manufacturing has been slow to adopt technologies that would enable competitiveness, agility, flexibility, market leadership and future-proofing.
Workforce challenges – A talent shortage combined with the loss of experienced workers (over 50s) has created a void. Younger Generation Z workforce skills in coding and gaming technology are not being made use of or sufficiently recognised as potential assets. For reference, the vacancy rate in the manufacturing sector is the highest ever since Office of National Statistics (ONS) records began, standing at 3.7% in October 2021 (vs an average of 1.8%).
Lack of integration between IT and operations – This results in stranded assets, manual dependency, low productivity, poor quality and overcomplicated processes.
Overextended assets – Machinery and equipment are being used beyond their planned operational lifecycle and the adoption of new automation, robots and drones has been slow.
Overdependency on offshore investment – Depending on non-UK corporate HQs such as Ford from the US, Nestle in Switzerland and Toyota of Japan, leaves local manufacturers in a potentially vulnerable position.
Cost of manufacturing – Manufacturing costs in the UK are comparatively higher than in other regions and nearshore alternatives like the Czech Republic.
Brexit impact – The impact on supply chains, cost of raw materials, import duties, workforce access, export order book and investor confidence continues to present issues.
Covid impact – Continues to present challenges in supply chains, R&D and production.
Changing PESTLE landscape – The Ukraine war has created a rapidly changing environment, disrupting the movement and accessibility of raw materials and goods.
Evolving technologies – The pace at which technologies are evolving is a challenge to keep up with, for example, the development of hydrogen engines.
Consumer-driven market dynamics – Keeping current with new trends from consumers such as mass customisation, healthier eating and environmentally-friendly products.

The role of digitalisation and Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 is the connection of people, processes and assets through information and communication technologies. Implementing intelligent solutions in production and logistics enables optimisation within factories and ultimately improves competitiveness in manufacturing. By embedding advanced data-generating and processing software into production facilities, organisations can evolve into smart connected factories. This increases productivity, quality and energy efficiency while helping to develop value-added, outcome-based measurable results and creates new, profitable business models toward sustainable manufacturing.

Manufacturers are at different stages of digitalisation adoption and development. Some are yet to start and as a result, Industry 4.0 standardisation can be difficult to implement. For example, many UK manufacturers have multiple vendors for equipment, automation systems and software which inflicts a heavy burden on time, money, productivity and quality in supporting the operation of non-standardised systems.

There has been a long-term sector-wide lack of sharing best practices among manufacturing companies, despite there being much to learn from each other. With this in mind, Bosch has undergone a programme of connecting its own 270 factories and 700 warehouses worldwide first, with the aim of sharing proven practical experience with customers following successful validation. Some of the key areas where Bosch has demonstrable proof points include:

Energy management

Sustainability is a common agenda and challenge within the sector with several manufacturers making the statement to be completely carbon neutral by 2030 globally despite huge legacy issues. Tracking and visualisation of energy usage within a factory including intelligent algorithms to lower energy costs is a way how the Bosch plant in Homburg has reduced energy costs by about €12 million with a total amortisation time of under 1.5 years.

Human-robot collaboration

As an example, the UK adoption of automation, robot and drone technology has been relatively slow. Greater use of automation enables companies to increase productivity as well as speed up the production process, resulting in significant cost savings. This has been applied in Bosch’s Nuremberg plant where collaborative robots have been implemented to combine human capabilities alongside the robot’s strengths such as precision, power, speed and repeatability.

Production improvement

To better integrate IT with operations, the Bosch plant in Blaichach cyclically evaluates new Industry 4.0 solutions along the production value stream and includes suitable solutions in its portfolio. The application supplements existing solutions with respect to the visualisation and evaluation of real-time data. This results in full transparency, increased efficiency and cost savings.

The future of manufacturing

Example operational benefits like 90% lower expenditure over manual data collection and a 15% increase in productivity, make it clear that Industry 4.0 brings measurable success and solutions to manufacturing sector challenges. Industry 4.0 is here, is real, and if organisations come together to define and apply Industry 4.0 concepts processes and standards it will be to the advantage of all.

Bosch benefits from its own experience in numerous use cases and will be happy to share.

To better integrate IT with operations,
the Bosch plant in Blaichach
cyclically evaluates new Industry
4.0 solutions along the production
value stream and includes suitable
solutions in its portfolio

Globally, the UK is Bosch’s fourth largest market and is its second largest within Europe, after Germany.

Recent investments in the UK and Ireland include:

August 2021: Bosch opened its Automotive Research & Development Centre in Limerick, Ireland. The focus of the activities in Limerick will be on state-of-the-art automotive electronics, for example the centre will develop Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) such as Automatic Emergency Braking, as well as the radar sensors and semiconductors that are needed to bring this technology to new cars around the world.

September 2021: Bosch subsidiary ETAS opened its Centre of Excellence for Embedded Software in York. This is an extension of the existing ETAS facility and represents a £1.6 million (€1.8 million) investment. The expanded centre will develop the middleware that will power future generations of advanced autonomous and highly automated vehicles. It will contribute to the realisation of Bosch and ETAS’s vision of accident-free driving around the world.

November 2021: Bosch acquired Protec Fire & Security. The company’s innovative product portfolio and services are used in numerous sectors, for example in industry, airports and railway stations, and will strengthen the European business for fire detection in Bosch Building Technologies Sector. Protec employs around 1,100 people and had a turnover of around £125 million (€142 million) in 2021.

April 2022: Bosch announced it will acquire Five, the start-up that specialises in autonomous driving. Five’s technology will complement Bosch’s existing automated driving expertise and the two companies share a common vision of automated driving and of safe automated driving systems. The acquisition of Five is subject to regulatory approval.

April 2022: Bosch UK announced its acquisition of a new office building within Broadwater Park in Denham. Bosch UK’s headquarters have been based at Broadwater Park since 1984 and it has now acquired the whole site. Bosch will move multiple divisions into the new office once it has been refitted to include the latest Bosch technology, which will ensure it has high levels of energy efficiency and is wholly sustainable. Bosch’s 400 locations all around the world, including in the UK, have been net zero since 2020.

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