Josh Linkner: I often get asked, "How do you describe
the factory of the future?"
It's a much more fluid, creative process,
with technologies and humans working side by side.
The way CPG manufacturers are changing
their approach to packaging is a perfect example.
As packages become smaller and boxes are reduced,
clearly it's making a positive environmental impact.
But it's also a win for manufacturers who are able
to get better positioning on e-commerce sites,
who tend to favor more efficient packaging materials.
For midsize manufacturers, that is especially important.
Those savings, and those advantages,
are where they build momentum for growth.
But developing one packaging operation
for bulk shipping to retail,
and another for direct-to-consumer
means more equipment to monitor and maintain.
To integrate new systems, manufacturers will tap into
the speed of 5G to track analytics in near-real time.
That means parts that need attention
could essentially speak up and ask for help
way before they become major maintenance issues.
All that can be handled by machine vision and IoT sensors.
These new technologies generate tremendous value,
but they also generate tremendous amounts of data.
A latency factor, where there's a delay
in data going out and data coming back in,
can actually create a negative opportunity.
It's possible to avoid that altogether
by processing data with near immediacy
at the edge of your network.
The outcome of that is edge-to-edge intelligence,
which ultimately drives performance and better outcomes.
For manufacturers of the future,
growth can mean different things.
You're starting to see co-bots,
where that's humans and robots working side by side.
We're seeing drones applied to the factory floor.
We're even seeing something fascinating
called the self-assembly process,
in which manufacturing items are, to a degree,
building upon themselves.
But as we look forward, it's still the magic
and the precision of all these moving parts,
data included, working together seamlessly
to keep the manufacturing industry running.