The Digital Shopfloor Scan: Uncover Operational Improvements

The manufacturing industry is under increasing pressure to operate more efficiently, flexibly and competitively. Digitalisation plays an important role in this, but many companies struggle with the question of how best to tackle this transformation. Where to start? Which processes offer the most room for improvement? The Digital Shopfloor Scan helps you answer these questions.

What is the Digital Shopfloor Scan?

The Digital Shopfloor Scan offers a structured and strategic approach to help companies on their digitalisation journey. It allows you to analyse your business processes objectively and to understand which digital technologies can support your business - today and tomorrow. The scan unveils bottlenecks, improvement opportunities – helping to develop a clear roadmap for further optimisation. Focused on improving your company’s operational excellence, it will help to streamline internal processes, reduce costs and deliver reliable, consistent products and services.

How does the Digital Shopfloor Scan work?

What distinguishes the Digital Shopfloor Scan from other digitisation initiatives is its approach. Instead of focusing solely on digital technologies, the process starts with a process analysis of the production environment. By mapping the existing processes and performance, companies gain insight into where the biggest opportunities for improvement lie. Only then can we determine which digital technologies add value and how they can be optimally deployed. This method prevents companies from focusing on technologies without a clear strategy and ensures that digitalisation has a real impact.

Scope of the Digital Shopfloor Scan

The Digital Shopfloor Scan focuses on the key areas within the manufacturing industry that directly affect the efficiency and effectiveness of the production environment. Our team assesses your company’s processes step-by-step.

1. Product development. Innovation begins with product development, where research, design, and testing come together to successfully bring new products to market. Today, research, design, and testing to bring products to market can be fully digitised. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), and Product Data Management (PDM) systems allow for seamless cooperation with clients and third parties, which is especially helpful for engineering-to-order manufacturing companies that offer custom solutions.
2. Procurement & inventory management. The procurement process starts with the selection and acquisition of raw materials and components. After procurement, inventory management plays a crucial role in optimising the storage and movement of materials so that the right quantities are available at the right time. The latest cloud-based ERP and WMS systems integrating MRP methodologies for production planning support companies to manage this process in real-time.
3. Production management. In the production process, these raw materials are converted into finished products through operations such as welding and machining. Using Master Production Planning (MPP) and Material Requirements Planning (MRP), ensures that capacity and resources are optimally utilised. These methods are well known, however often not properly configured in the used ERP system. Moreover, shopfloors frequently rely on paper-based methods for communication and planning, hindering the implementation of robust process analysis techniques.
4. Quality control. Ensuring product quality requires solid quality control. This includes performance measures such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), which provides insight into the availability, performance and quality of production processes. Through inspections and continuous monitoring, deviations can be detected and corrected in time. Using the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) technologies, companies now work online and in real-time.
5. Supply chain management. Once products meet quality standards, they are transported through distribution and logistics and managed within warehouse and transportation networks. Finally, supply chain management ensures a smooth and efficient flow of goods and information, from supplier to end customer. This ensures that products reach the right place on time and at minimum cost, which is essential for a well-functioning production environment. Using the common method of digital supply chain integration is important to control this process.

Figure 1. Key areas within the manufacturing process

How can the Digital Shopfloor Scan support strategic choices?

The Digital Shopfloor Scan not only provides companies with insight into their current production processes but also guides them in making well-considered investment choices. By doing an in-depth analysis of the shop floor, organisations gather essential data that guides their decision-making. This enables them to set priorities and optimise investments in a targeted way.

By identifying exactly where technology and resources add the most value, companies can avoid unnecessary costs and increase efficiency. Risk management also plays a crucial role: the scan enables organisations to take proactive action and keep their operations stable. In addition, the scan provides valuable insights into strategic improvements, which help to create a clear roadmap for growth and innovation. By basing strategic decisions on data and insights from the Digital Shopfloor Scan, organisations build a future-proof and continuously improving production environment.

Figure 2. Emixa's Digital Thread

How Emixa can help your organisation

With the Digital Shopfloor Scan, Emixa helps your organisation gain insight into current processes, identify improvement opportunities and draw up a concrete action plan. By cleverly combining data and technology, we ensure that digitalisation is used strategically and has a measurable impact on your organisation's efficiency and productivity.  

Get in touch

Want to learn more about the Digital Shopfloor Scan? We’re here for you.
Reach out to Feike de Groot.