This makes efficient product development more critical than ever. In an ideal world, your facilities, production lines, and equipment would flexibly accommodate new and different products. But in the real world, most manufacturers are constrained by legacy assets that make new product introductions harder than they should be.
It’s time for a change.
Savvy executives have learned to use the capital-asset planning process as an opportunity to develop organizational agility. They know that every piece of capital equipment should increase flexibility, by allowing new production configurations, better work flows, and increased customizations. Lean manufacturers have spent years trying to work around “monument” pieces of equipment in their plants — machines that create bottlenecks, but can’t be altered. Take these lean experts’ advice: Don’t invest in monuments.
What should you invest in? New equipment should provide not just speed and efficiency, but manufacturing intelligence, too. Production assets embedded with intelligent devices and controls allow you to develop a Connected Enterprise — a secure information technology/operations technology infrastructure that automates and streamlines operations, and supports proactive decision-making. The Connected Enterprise turns operations data into working information capital.
Rockwell Automation works with many equipment OEMs around the globe to design, develop, and deliver innovative machinery, incorporating Connected Enterprise solutions and helping manufacturers to:
- Increase plant productivity,
- Improve asset utilization,
- Lower total cost of ownership,
- Improve return on investment,
- Drive business value for customers, and
- Build in competitive advantage, today and tomorrow.
Manufacturing executives spend roughly 11 percent of sales on capital equipment annually. The smartest leaders invest those dollars into equipment that can adapt to whatever the future brings.
