Smart Factory 4.0 for the integration of the entire supply chain
The Government's Transition 4.0 Plan could be an excellent springboard for the Smart Factory 4.0. Businesses are being offered a package of around 24 billion euros in tax credits covering investments in tangible and intangible capital goods, investments in agile working, R&D, and green and digital technological innovation: everything needed to create a Smart Factory 4.0 in the era of Industry 4.0.
This is an industrial policy direction that could drive the Digital Transformation SMEs need to compete in the market of the near future. The post-pandemic New Normal will have to evolve into a constant Next Normal, in which the difference will be made by the agility of the company and its management in responding to customers' “here and now” demands.
The aim of the package is to “support the plan to strengthen the 4.0 measures in order to foster innovation and development”. For the Smart Factory 4.0 this means only one thing: full digitalisation, to guarantee the integration of the entire supply chain, from the ordering of raw materials to production and distribution.
Digitalising the management of information and data is also essential for one of the main legacies of the health crisis, namely the exponential growth of e-commerce. E-commerce in Italy will be worth 150 billion euros in 2021, 40% more than in 2020 and four times as much as in 2018. And it is clear that only within a Smart Factory 4.0 context can e-commerce become a competitive factor, especially for an SME.
Analytics and forecasting for the Smart Factory 4.0
For SMEs, the digitalisation opportunity is decisive. The risk is exclusion from a market that no longer distinguishes between offline and online, and from a world in which more and more people are getting used to living in a hybrid world. The Smart Factory 4.0 bases production processes on innovative technologies, sensors and robotics, ICT solutions for process virtualisation and the enhancement of resources, including human work.
The future of business in the Smart Factory 4.0 is in fact linked above all to the control of processes and of the enormous amount of data that must be normalised with management software for analytics and forecasting.
ERP solutions and Smart Factory: an essential combination
In the Smart Factory 4.0 it is no longer enough to talk about interconnection between plants, IT platforms and human resources. We need to move to the level of integration. In the intelligent factory all data is integrated and, thanks to analytics, management can optimise activities and plan objectives.
The flow of data passing through the management software and ERP solutions of the Smart Factory 4.0, such as cloud-based ones, makes it possible to respond promptly to market demands, enabling flexible production, monitoring stock levels and streamlining the entire supply chain. The Smart Factory 4.0 is by definition an adaptable system because it integrates and analyses information coming from the different areas of the company.
Business Analysis in the Smart Factory 4.0
The goal of managing data and information is process improvement. The data collected must be integrated by ERP or MES management solutions in order to harmonise its heterogeneity. ERP management solutions for the Smart Factory 4.0 make it possible not only to integrate data from different information systems, but also to analyse deviations from production plans and take corrective action. The ability to read the data of ERP software solutions for the Smart Factory facilitates maintenance activities by identifying critical issues, even predictively.
Web-based ERP for accessibility to the Smart Factory 4.0
In the Smart Factory 4.0, data integration guarantees complete process control. Generating reports with ERP management software simplifies the reading of operating conditions and the planning of production strategies and of the Digital Supply Chain. ERP analysis tools, now also accessible via the web, allow management to work in real time to direct investments and resources. Integrated solutions for Analysis, Business Intelligence and Corporate Performance Management are, for SMEs too, the key to a revolutionary approach towards transformation into a Smart Factory 4.0.