How to Reach the Required Degree of Individualization in Production?
Current customers increasingly require products that will match their individual needs. Producers have to adapt to this trend and find a way to reach the highest possible degree of goods individualization. How to do that?
Digital twins offer several important things to producers and among them, there is also clarity and flexibility. Thanks to them, it is possible to quickly produce individualized products at low cost for satisfaction of even the most demanding clients.
Complete insight is a necessity
With the involvement of sensors using the internet of things in production facilities and oftentimes even the products themselves, manufacturers are able to create a digital twin offering an immediate overview of individual processes, the supply chain performance and the product state. Manufacturing facilities that can combine clarity with automation can move from mass individualization. And therefore, easily develop a whole range of personalized products.
Leading companies change the way of thinking when it comes to current production processes and transform their production lines into flexible manufacturing cells. These cells can move and work in accordance with the Plug and Play principle. Creation of a digital twin based on the data from the sales department allows gathering key data based on which it is possible to determine what to produce in the future and how to do it. Therefore, the entire production process can be automatically guided and realized in the corresponding manufacturing cells.
As a result, companies are able to produce great amounts of individualized goods. At the same time, they will gain a sufficient overview in order to optimize the product passage through the production process, minimize individual devices’ idle time and use predictive maintenance before a small problem becomes big.
Digital twins are an ideal solution when it comes to outsourcing
If a company outsources production, a digital twin will offer an insight into the production processes of the partner. Even when they are thousands of miles apart. With a digital twin of the contractual production facility, the company can track how individual accounts are handled, and therefore make sure that customers will get their personalized product in the required quality.
Flexibility enables to adjust the product on the go
Today’s customers can use online configurators for customizing the product in accordance with their individual needs. For example, when it comes to sneakers, they are able to select the shape, the whole style, colours and countless other parameters. The traditional methods of mass production are, in this regard, sufficient. The production of many product variants in the same time and space requires flexible manufacturing cells.
Even in this case, digital twins come forward, as they offer the option to quickly react to ever changing customer requirements and produce an individualized product. If a customer orders white sneakers with an orange dragon on the side, it is no problem for a manufacturer who has the needed data and flexibility at their disposal. The system is able to send the required product to specific manufacturing cells and assemble the final product exactly in accordance with the customer’s wishes.
Thanks to the flexibility offered by digital twins, every single product from the same production line can look completely different.
Whether it comes to any product, one thing’s for sure. Digital twins can help reach a high degree of product individualization thanks to both the clarity and the flexibility they offer.
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