Technology
Smart factory technology is finally hitting the shop floor – but not in the way most of us were expecting.
The concept of smart factories is not new. Across many industrial sectors manufacturers have been experimenting with ways to make production faster, cheaper and reduce quality issues.
Consultants championed a vision of workerless garment factories. Those with real-life manufacturing experience cite the many practical reasons why this view is impractical. And NGO’s accuse factories of being unwilling to upgrade.
THE PROBLEM: The complexity of garment making has made developing the necessary robotics difficult – and expensive.
The incentives to make sizable capex investments when there is a huge supply of very capable and affordable labor are not there.
However, that hasn’t stopped engineers from trying. And that ongoing R&D has led to some impressive results.
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