There is a seismic shift happening in the manufacturing industry as it advances towards Industry 4.0, according to a new report by Ericsson.

The telecommunications technology company recently launched its Connected Manufacturing report, which explores challenges the industry is up against and how smart solutions will be “key in helping manufacturers gearing up for Industry 4.0”.

Specifically, the report offers a deep-dive analysis of five high-value use cases and technologies that address the most imminent points in the industry.

Individually these use cases all create a healthy return on investment and streamline operations for factory owners. However, when all five are deployed and working together, their combined ROI will reach 116 percent by year five.

It will also create a system that is more agile, reliable and efficient.

Key use cases detailed in the report include:

• Autonomous mobile robots (AMR) for real-time production chain automation: 46 percent of the value of AMRs comes from forklift operators being freed up to do other tasks in the factory;
• Collaborative robots (cobots) for more efficient operations: customers today expect zero defects. To accomplish this goal, manufacturers must inspect 100 percent of the products they make and cobots offer a new set of eyes;
• Augmented Reality (AR): AR can make an enormous difference in quality inspections. In fact, with AR, service experts can support local inspectors remotely, reducing their travel-related CO2 impact by 50 percent. The ROI on AR in year five is 68 percent;
• Asset condition monitoring for increased uptime: Asset condition monitoring keeps equipment in good shape while preventing over-maintenance and the premature replacement of parts. As a result, manufacturers can reduce the number of spare parts required by 10 percent and employees can cut down on the amount of repetitive work they would normally have to do; and
• Digital twins for optimized operations: Digital twins can produce useable insights for both process and factory, giving manufacturers full control to implement change. Thirty percent of executives believe a digital twin would reduce costs.

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