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4 strategies for manufacturers to improve processes with cloud
Facilitate and harness the innovation that will reduce costs, improve productivity and lead to growth
Contents
Introduction
For many manufacturers, facilitating and harnessing the innovation that will reduce costs, improve productivity and lead to growth can be hard to achieve. Digital technology has the capacity to play a significant role in addressing these challenges, yet many manufacturers continue to have considerable technology debt, relying on legacy systems that prevent them from reaching their potential.
To stay competitive, manufacturers should look to understand the role cloud computing can play in creating a positive change in their organisation and create a cloud strategy which outlines their future options.
In this document, we outline 4 areas where cloud technology offers a significant strategic advantage to manufacturing companies:
Improvements in these areas will address key challenges facing the sector:
Automation
Skills
Risk
Cost Reduction
Keeping pace with consumer expectations whilst reducing costs and downtime
of manufacturing leaders agree that cloud is a necessity in the modern production line.
%
of manufacturing organisations recognise the value of AI to their business according to a survey by HFS research.
Accelerate R&D and production
Cloud offers scope for improvement at every stage of the development and production journey, so manufacturers can make better products and get them to market faster.
Using AI and data science enables R&D teams to collaborate, model, and simulate more efficiently. They can build more effective prototypes in shorter timescales, meaning ideas can be moved from conception to production far more quickly.
Cloud can also enable the production line to move far more efficiently, with well-synced-up processes underpinned by reliable, secure technology, that operates with greater capacity.
Enhance operational efficiency
Cloud allows manufacturers to discern where incremental operations can be improved, reducing downtime and getting products to the customer sooner.
By moving a data estate to the cloud, manufacturers can use their data to get the best visibility of their business possible. They can analyse, evaluate and predict every aspect of the business – for both machines and staff. It can help improve worker safety, machine maintenance and highlight operational inefficiencies where time is being lost. These will reduce operational costs and improve margins.
of manufacturers need to make substantial changes to put data at the heart of their processes according to a recent IDC report.
Improve infrastructure and systems performance to reduce downtime
Moving to a reliable cloud infrastructure model keeps production and operations moving, backed up, and secure.
IT infrastructure underpins the entire manufacturing organisation, without it, production and operations grind to a halt. Moving to a cloud IaaS or PaaS model means that companies are always on the latest technology, with back-ups to get production and processes back online with minimal downtime, and as secure as possible from cyber attacks.
Up to %
in efficiency gains for manufacturing organisations that deploy intelligent initiatives according to a recent Microsoft survey.
Better connect elements within the supply chain
Get improved insight into the supply chain, to reduce risk and address issues before they affect production.
Legacy systems mean information is siloed and disconnected. Cloud makes it easier to connect and obtain information on any system, ultimately giving more control over external factors affecting delivery. Insight into the supply chain can help increase resilience, optimise processes, uncover inefficiencies and highlight ways to operate more sustainably. Potential risks can also be flagged before they become problems, allowing organisations to respond accordingly.
Conclusion
The transformative effect of the cloud is clear. This document has outlined four examples of how cloud technology can make compelling enhancements to business processes, but of course, there are many other ways cloud enables improvement.
Manufacturing organisations that take an end-to-end approach to implementing cloud in every aspect of their business, and those who make data a core business function, are those who will see real, lasting results. This will involve a change for many and it’s sensible to start small, before expanding a cloud footprint. What is crucial is understanding the options for your individual organisation and putting together a cloud strategy to enable better decision-making in the future.
Why DSP?
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The only Oracle and Microsoft CSP in the UK.
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An end-to-end cloud service offering from strategy and business case building, to managed service provision.
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Guaranteed continuity of service with a dedicated account manager and team of experts.
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