The goals and objectives of lean manufacturing principles and digital process automation are the same. They aim to reduce waste, boost efficiency and enhance customer satisfaction. Digital process automation can aid companies to realise the lean manufacturing principles and their impact on the automation market.
Through digital process automation, companies can cut down on waste, a fundamental principle of lean manufacturing. By setting tight tolerance and quality levels, indications are sent if the required levels are not met. This eliminates the reworking of products and minimising the amount of waste produced.
Through digital automation, Internet of Things (IoT) comes into picture which reduces dependency on humans, thus maintaining the same levels of production that aligns with the principle of Heijunka. Also, with digital process automation into place, human errors are completely taken out of the equation. This is according to the lean manufacturing principle of Jidoka where a machine does the task automatically, rather than humans.
As globally companies are looking forward to eliminating waste, streamline manufacturing processes and saving on costs through lean manufacturing tools, the same is expected to bolster digital process automation market and this automation leads efficiency into the entire supply chain. Also the supply chain finance offers a new cash source to the companies. It's anticipated that this market will clock a CAGR of 7.23% during 2019-24, with IoT connected devices expected to reach 51.11 billion by 2023.
With enterprises set to look become competitive in the coming days, the need of the hour is to minimise costs and scrap waste. This can be achieved by integrating lean manufacturing tools and digital process automation in tandem. Also, for evolving economies across the globe that face shortage of skilled workforce, lean manufacturing principles with digital automation hold the key to success.
However it’s not easy to achieve growth easily as there may toughest challenges are expected in lean manufacturing.