Sight Machine recently attended the IMPACT Manufacturing Summit in Chicago where Industry leaders were talking about the digitization of manufacturing. This two-day event brought together more than 200 of the most influential manufacturing executives across a variety of industries for a series of solution-driven meetings and educational sessions.
For the Sight Machine team, the IMPACT summit included over 30 meetings with leading manufacturing executives and a keynote presentation given by none other than Sight Machine’s CEO, Jon Sobel. During his talk, Jon hosted three panelists— Hari Menon from General Motors, Larry Hamilton from Jabil, and Amedio Palmieri from Lenovo—to share how the digitization of the plant floor has impacted their businesses.
As we met and heard from a variety of folks in the manufacturing industry, two key trends related to how digital, data-driven initiatives can transform the way factories—and businesses—approach manufacturing and operations were confirmed for us:
- The digitization of manufacturing is not an “if”, it’s a “when”.
This is a concept that Jon spoke about in his keynote presentation, and it resonated with many of the attendees in the audience. Industry leaders understand that manufacturing is in the midst of a digital transformation that will ultimately improve the way factories and plants operate. In order to remain competitive, ignoring trends like the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and data collection is no longer an option. - Manufacturing leaders are skeptical about HOW to leverage digital capabilities.
While many of the people we met with understand that they need to embrace digital capabilities in their facilities, there is still a lack of understanding as to how they can be applied to drive actionable insights. For example, in several of our meetings, folks shared their concerns about siloed factories and disparate data sources limiting their access to a consolidated, real-time view of their operations. With few alternatives, many have resorted to hiring data scientists to consolidate and analyze their data, which is great for historical analysis but eliminates the ability to view plant happenings in real-time. While some remain skeptical, the application of manufacturing analytics came to life during the panel discussion of Jon’s keynote, when each panelist shared how data collection, Machine Learning, and real-time analytics have positively impacted their operations.
The transition to a digital factory is an exciting trend in the industry, and it opens many possibilities for manufacturing leaders to optimize their operations across the plant floor. Learn more about how you can improve quality, productivity, and visibility with real-time manufacturing analytics in your organization.
