What is smart manufacturing?

Physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla changed the world because he understood that alternating current (AC) was the best way of transmitting electricity.

While AC was known of before Tesla began his work in the field, his inventions, which included a system that combined generators and long transmission lines, literally lit up the world. Essentially, he made AC the world standard.

Tesla knew even then that one method – one standard – was needed for the entire electrical grid system. It just made sense.

Standardization is important, so important, in fact, that it’s one of the S’s in the famous 5S system.

As manufacturing evolves, new systems, methods, challenges, and risks also require that new standards be agreed upon, this time for smart manufacturing technologies.

In November 2018 the International Society of Automation (ISA) began working with partner organizations, including the International Electrotechnical Commission (ICE) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to begin the process. The first order of business was to come up with a standard definition of “smart manufacturing.”

The result was unsurprisingly long-winded.

According to the working group of standards associations, smart manufacturing is defined as “manufacturing that improves its performance aspects with integrated and intelligent use of processes and resources in cyber, physical, and human spheres to create and deliver products and services, which also collaborates with other domains within an enterprise’s value chain.”

These “other” domains can include a company’s engineering, sales and marketing, and logistics.

Now these are the fancy words of academia, but essentially they mean that smart manufacturing isn’t replacing what we call traditional manufacturing, it’s simply adding to it.

Smart manufacturing will, however, introduce new hardware and software at a faster pace, and these yet-to-be-invented systems must have some form of standardization. As more sensors are used in equipment and parts, data must be transmitted and processed in a standard format. Data can be exchanged in a fast, uninterrupted manner only if it has been standardized.

Standards are the definitions and guidelines that govern nearly every aspect of manufacturing. They exist for materials, processes, and even safety protocols. They create uniformity, which enables the standard to be widely accepted. They help break down barriers in communication, allowing manufacturing workers to “speak the same language” no matter where they are in the world.

Smart manufacturing is here. Now is the time to set the standards.