Cloud
Reimagine Your Manufacturing Business With Cloud
According to a recent analyst report dated December 2017, manufacturers are allocating more IT spend on Cloud because they believe it is the most pertinent technology in the next five years to digitally transform their business, however, most of them lack a strong cloud strategy.
Manufacturers must reinvent themselves and drive new capabilities across the value chain leveraging Cloud as an enabler.
It isn’t just about production or supply chain
Manufacturing companies no longer hold a myopic view about Cloud. Having gained significantly in streamlining operations and reducing costs, they are now looking at Cloud to see how they can serve their customers better, or how to draw value out of the trillion gigabytes of data that their systems are generating. There are several game changers in the market that are driving manufacturers to adopt or strengthen their cloud strategy. Check out this whitepaper to know what they are.
As more and more customers and devices become connected over different platforms and geographies, companies need to innovate to meet new expectations/local requirements or to meet the demand for mass customization. Increase in the size and complexity of the global ecosystem of suppliers, partners, and distributors, along with the generation of enormous data, is creating a new set of dynamics for manufacturers to deal with.
So how can a manufacturing company define or strengthen its cloud strategy to take advantage of new technologies like 3D printing, Internet of Things (IoT) or Artificial Intelligence. A scalable cloud platform provides the backbone to integrate processes, people and systems to provide the perfect environment for innovation.
Let’s look at a few areas where getting on the Cloud platform can help you:
IoT and Automation: IoT based automation systems typically control connected devices through Cloud-based computing or Internet Protocols. For example, there are digital printers that send you a phone alert to place an order for cartridges the moment the sensor picks a drop in the ink level. As manufacturers add automation and IoT to make their products more ‘intelligent’ and ‘connected’, they will need strong Cloud computing capabilities.
Cloud-driven analytics: Where do you store all the data you collect from your customer interaction points, connected devices, partner touch points etc.? Cloud solutions provide a cost effective option to store, process, analyze and back up large volumes of data. This data can be used to bring efficiencies not just in the core manufacturing processes but also in marketing, customer service, HR, new product development. The possibilities are endless and exciting.
Infrastructure: With Infrastructure-as-a-Service, manufacturers can focus more on building their capabilities than on keeping the lights on. This is particularly relevant when the load on the infrastructure is predicted to increase significantly to support the large amount of data that’s being generated.
Collaboration: Information/knowledge sharing and collaborating with partners in a global environment can contribute significantly to smooth and efficient business processes and innovations in areas like co-manufacturing new products or tracking and risk management. Cloud-based collaboration hubs provide capabilities that facilitate easy and quick information sharing with clear visibility. Problems like why there was a delay in allocation of orders between suppliers and distributors can be sorted out faster.
What does the future look like…
The Cloud-empowered manufacturing companies are getting increasingly obsessed about making their products and processes more intelligent, faster and simpler.…be it around supply chain, production, distribution or after sales. Cloud empowers you to rethink your manufacturing business in ways that you would not have imagined earlier. Visit the Infosys page to take a look at Cloud capabilities and see if you have made the most of it yet.
