Waste not, want not: Bringing intelligence to process manufacturing

Smart manufacturing is a hot trend these days. But its effects have mostly been confined to what’s commonly called discrete manufacturing.

Discrete manufacturing makes things you can count: cars, toys, vacuum cleaners. Component parts are conveyed on belts, rails, or production lines. Separating one product from another is easy.

Process manufacturing makes goods in bulk: cosmetics, soap, and paint are examples. Raw materials are stored in tanks or vats, and conveyed through pipes or pumps from one part of the factory to another.

Process manufacturing has the potential to get smarter, and eventually, it will. In the meantime, it faces several challenges.

A labyrinthine process

First, it’s hard to digitalize what you can’t count. Keeping track of pens, phones, toys, and washing machines is a relatively straightforward matter. By contrast, things like paints, gels and lubricants are measured by weight or volume. They come in containers whose weight must be subtracted from the weight of whatever is being produced.

Second, economies of scale are achieved only at very large volumes. Once a plant is built, manufacturers have an incentive to produce at maximum capacity. Plants are often huge, and exact volumes are hard to track, making it difficult to operate efficiently.

Third, products such as paints, cleaners, and lubricants have expiration dates, as do their ingredients – all of which must be discarded once they expire. In processing plants, about 10% of existing chemical stock is wasted daily – about a ton of waste per day.

Make it measurable

Making discrete manufacturing “smart” is one thing. Doing the same for process manufacturing requires a completely different approach.

Granted, you could use 50-year-old barcode technology to digitally track uncountable goods. But workers would have to scan those goods manually. That’s inefficient and increases the chance of human error: a single item must be scanned more than 20 times as it moves through a warehouse.

Thingple’s solution uses RFID technology to track goods and keep factory managers updated on their progress. RFID can duplicate everything that a barcode scanner can do, but at greater distances and without the need for a line-of-sight connection. It can also scan hundreds of labeled containers at once – accurately – while barcode readers can only handle one piece of inventory at a time.

In this way, digitalization makes process manufacturing more precise, trackable, and easy to measure. That in turn reduces waste and makes operations more efficient.

R.I.P. manufacturing waste

Here's an example: adhesives and their ingredients have expiration dates. As mentioned, 10% daily wastage of chemical stock is typical. One ton of waste a day is 30 tons a month – an expensive, environmentally unfriendly problem.

With a digital tracking system, goods on the verge of expiry can be used first, so they won’t have to be thrown away.

A digitalized processing factory will also use analytics to precisely measure the weight and volume of goods shipped. Connected to a sales and delivery system, the production line can react quickly to changes in demand. That means even a gigantic factory will have a better handle on how much of its products are needed, allowing it to produce only as much as necessary.

When goods can be located digitally, forklifts will travel shorter distances to reach them, leading to smaller carbon footprints. And of course, less paperwork means fewer trees are cut down.

Even if you shrink the 10% daily waste to just 5%, you’ll prevent 15 tons of chemical waste a month –  180 tons of waste each year.

By embracing the principles of connectivity, precise measurement, and digital technology, the process manufacturing sector not only can improve its operational efficiency, but can also play a pivotal role in mitigating environmental impact. Ultimately, it’s a win for everybody.