Faster, higher, stronger: the motto for the Olympics can very well be adopted by the highly competitive manufacturing industry. To illustrate, the sooner you arrive at the market, the greater your share could potentially be. The higher your standards for quality and innovation are, the more precious and desirable your goods and services become. And the more robust your processes are, the better chances you have of withstanding or recovering from setbacks.
Throughout the many revolutions manufacturing has gone through, technology has always played a large role. Mechanization, computerization, automation via robots… humankind has been able to produce larger quantities with better quality and greater consistency. Today, cloud computing takes center stage. Here’s why it is such a boon for manufacturers.
Faster
When it comes to managing production, can anything be faster than real time? By hosting enterprise resource planning (ERP) software on the cloud, you get to streamline your operations, automate repetitive tasks, and allow key personnel across departments to track every stage of production in real time at the same time.
If a necessary raw material is unexpectedly running low because large quantities were damaged and thrown out, purchase orders can be made to replenish the material immediately.
Business intelligence — the capacity to process huge data sets into actionable insights — is also enabled by the cloud. You can process tons of data from labor management applications, quickly identify production bottlenecks, and come up with solutions sooner than your not-on-the-cloud competitors do.
Higher
You can augment manufacturing robots and environs with cloud-based Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors. These can identify parts that need replacing before they cause quality concerns or production hiccups, monitor and optimize environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, and help gather data on how workers use production spaces to increase productivity and enhance their work experience.
Furthermore, cloud-based tools help fulfill quality control functions. When arming quality control staff on the production floor with mobile devices, you’ll need mobile device management (MDM) or mobile application management (MAM) systems to control access to data and what staff can do with it.
Stronger
Cloud services allow manufacturing firms to enjoy IT resources without the hassle of managing and maintaining it themselves. This means that IT is one less cog to worry about in the production line.
An example of a powerful cloud-based resource is Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). It enables manufacturers to build, test, and deploy their own line-of-business applications, such as inventory management systems. Another example is Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). This lets firms have virtual data centers instead of having to build those on-premises. If any of these services were to break down, the managed IT services provider (MSP) is the one that’s best equipped to fix it, making data-reliant processes more robust than if the manufacturer were to take care of it themselves.
Last but not least, the cloud enables MSPs to deliver business continuity and disaster recovery services. If a flood or a cyberattack compromises your in-house servers, your MSP can pull backups from the cloud as soon as possible. You can minimize costly downtime and be operational sooner than your competitors.
Manufacturers can’t afford to fall behind on technology. Firms in Toronto trust XBASE to keep them on the cutting edge of innovation. Contact us to learn more about how cloud computing can keep your organization ahead of your competitors.
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