Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1499865
Molex 2023 23 Customers Are Driving Industrial Automation Innovation Darshan Pandya | for Mouser Electronics Customer needs and expectations mean that manufacturing environments must be resilient, agile, accessible, data-driven, collaborative, and sustainable. Customer needs and expectations are the driving force behind product development and manufacturing. Customers want product options and personalization. They want customized products manufactured and delivered quickly, and increasingly customers expect manufacturers to align with their values. Although the traditional manufacturing goals of efficiency, accuracy, and safety remain relevant, manufacturing environments are trending toward newer characteristics influenced by Industry 4.0, such as agility, accessibility, data-driven insights, collaboration, resilience, and sustainability. This article examines these newer characteristics and how they help meet customers' rapidly evolving needs and expectations. Agile Agile systems are rooted in batch production approaches, where the base product is mass-produced, but customization is carried out in batches—for example, producing one batch with red paint, another with blue, and another with pink. Agility relates to market changes and what customers want; it changes the concept of producing one or two variations to instead offering those variations as options, taking manufacturing from customizing products to personalizing them. Whereas customization leads to customer satisfaction, personalization has an aspect of customer delight attached to it. The most advanced systems produce each product as a separate order along the production line, using customer data to drive personalization. Imagine ordering a product during the week of your birthday, for example. The manufacturer might add a birthday note in the box or print "Happy Birthday!" on the packaging to personalize the product. Or, say you have been researching meal delivery services online: A manufacturer might put a coupon in the box for a popular food delivery service. By combining batch production processes with customer data, manufacturers can do a lot to personalize products, not just satisfying customers but delighting them.