5 manufacturing trends to look forward to in 2021

The past year has highlighted the need for sweeping and immediate changes across the manufacturing industry. It has been facing several evolving challenges accelerated by the pandemic.

To improve efficiency and productivity, here are five manufacturing trends you should look forward to in 2021:

Continued Focus On the Development of IoT
IoT (the internet of things) remains a buzzword in manufacturing owing to its adaptability and disruptive nature. As companies and their equipment continue to be digitized, IoT can help companies in multiple ways.

Some of the benefits include the collection, management, and analysis of digital data for overall time and cost-efficiency. Such tech enables workers to study and analyze the working of the machinery and its problems digitally, making it possible to identify and implement solutions before setting foot on site.

A Renewed Emphasis On Employee Safety
Despite being a key aspect of the industry for years, in the light of the pandemic, the topic of employee safety has been discussed in a whole new light. As industries open up again, there exists a need to embrace several new solutions and measures to protect employees.

On top of pre-existing health measures, social distancing, effective vaccine rollout, contact tracing, and restricting visitors throughout the plant are some more steps that can be implemented to ensure the health and well-being of all employees.

Implementing Smarter Production Floors
The development of tech that supports the automation of various production processes is being used to mitigate the pressures put on manufacturers by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has been proven that the adoption of such measures helps resolve the challenges put forth by the pandemic. Apart from IoT helping remote workspaces, the use of big data for analysis and decision-making is one such example.

3D printing is another solution that can help speed up labor and time-intensive processes like prototyping and creating mechanisms such as jigs, fixtures, leveling casters, and molds.

A Surge in E-Commerce
One of the many consequences that have peaked as a result of the pandemic, is the growth in the e-commerce and online shopping sector. Data has shown that there will be almost 2.14 billion global digital buyers in 2021.

With this huge increase of consumers, e-commerce sales are also expected to skyrocket and grow at a steady pace for years to come. This brings about the need for companies to explore and transition into a B2C model rather than a B2B model to capitalize on the growing trends.

Predictive Maintenance
It is a known fact that even the most minor of issues in terms of repair, downtime, or any form of loss of productivity comes with a huge price tag.

From improved monitoring of machinery to alert generation, manufacturers will continue to adopt better and more reliable preventive maintenance strategies to optimize workforce productivity, reduce costs and improve revenue.

Given the ever-changing nature of the industry, companies need to keep up with the latest trends to navigate the complex landscape to improve revenues and ultimately lead to sustained growth.