How Will The Factory Of The Future and Barcoding Look?
So, how will the factory of the future look?
by Timmy Thermal
Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. Here I go again. But it is true. Everyone and everything is looking to be more efficient and lean, and find more innovative ways to do things quicker, more effective and to save money, energy use and get rid of excess waste. It is the way of the future, if you want to be viable and still operating.
Smart, progressive organizations are exploring ways to work more efficiently using asset information, system integration and process innovation. To streamline their operations, they are moving away from capacity to capability and measuring success based on production capability and flexibility rather than efficiency and production capacity.
The focus seems to be moving away from mass production and the use of forecasts to more of a focus on quality and precision, and building to actual customer demand and requirements.
Being able to provide this, operations and staff must have more analytical and technical decision making tools and capabilities available and accessible to them. This means data and tracking and tracing tools. To do this, you need the right mix of thermal barcode printers and barcode mobile computer scanners and Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) solutions to provide you with the right fit and functionality.
How and where to use AIDC:
- Warehousing
- Inbound and outbound logistics
- Asset management
- Work-in-progress
- Breakdown and putaway
The need to be able to not only to capture the data, but to have the devices provide real-time connectivity, providing current data, providing full visibility into the supply chain, providing precise, timely data on the status of every machine, asset and transaction, fully integrated. Operations are becoming IoT (Internet of Things) and essential a virtual plant floor – from warehousing, inbound and outbound logistics shipping and receiving areas, work-in-progress assembly lines, and to breakdown and putaway.
For further information on track and trace systems and barcode label printer or barcode mobile computer scanner options to create your factory of the future, call us as (800) 643-2664 and immediately talk to one of our friendly representatives; or chat us up on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn!
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Reference Resources: Zebra Technologies “The Factory of the Future – A practical guide to harnessing new value in manufacturing.