In the industrial sector, remote working is a challenge. It requires being able to connect to the plant and be able to program, plan and respond to requirements in real time and everywhere. This is possible with simple connectivity infrastructure and a VPN that allows secure access but, for communication to be complete, machines and processes must be interconnected so that information flows across laptops, tablets and other mobile devices and production can be tracked, programmed and monitored from remote locations.
While productivity and production increases, connectivity allows sales teams to provide quotes quickly and accurately. Most importantly, connectivity allows manufacturers to store and analyze up-to-date production data to make fully informed business decisions. In these times of confinement, when information changes so quickly, decisions backed by up-to-date data have never been so valuable.
We can go one step further and not only be able to carry out a significant proportion of the current factory processes from anywhere and at any time with great efficiency and productivity, but to do so by working with a hybrid model. This unites the plant and the physical space with the virtual environment and the cloud in real time, to provide intelligence to our factory wherever we are.
In the sheet metal and metal sector, the two worlds are united through an infrastructure called SherLOCK. It enables the factory and the cloud to communicate and send data to advanced cloud hosted software such asLantek iQuoting, Lantek Analytics, Lantek MES, Lantek Control Panel and Lantek Metal Shop. Intelligent services turn the plant into a Digital Factory through an SaaS model (Software as a Service) which supports a pay-per-use rental-type model, allowing resources to be adjusted according to need and making reality that duality turned into an opportunity to work from any device and in any place, indispensable during COVID-19.
As we have already said on several occasions, part of the infrastructure is migrating to the CLOUD environment. As it is an on-demand model, it does not require large sums of money to be invested in software and infrastructure, or in their maintenance and updating (which are done automatically and in a highly secure environment). It is in the cloud that programs are automatically executed and updated.
Thus, for example, we can use Business Intelligence tools to help professionals make better decisions based on data. This means that neither subjectivity nor possible human error come into play. Lantek Analytics compares historical and present data in order to provide an overview and identify behavior patterns, either to anticipate possible sales orders, rebalance workload if a machine suffers a breakdown, avoid such failures or launch purchase orders if there is not enough stock to meet unexpected orders. All this, without minimizing the intervention of people, in a semi-automatic or automatic way and in real time. In other words, it gives possible answers to situations that might arise, helping to make more agile, intelligent and accurate decisions, whether for present or future actions, thus optimizing processes and increasing productivity.
But the possibilities of the cloud are vast. At Lantek, our R&D team is finalizing an intelligent budgeting platform. Through Lantek iQuoting, advanced calculation algorithms will extract the necessary data to estimate the costs associated with production, purchasing or contracting accurately and quickly. And the fact is that budgeting in the sheet metal and metal sector is a complex task, where a multitude of variables intervene such as geometries, materials, pieces, nests, types of cut, times and labor, among others. This program will work connected to CAD/CAM and MES solutions to offer very reliable quotations.
Linked to this platform, Lantek Metal Shop (e-commerce for sheet metal and metal) will also be available to users. Through this system, the end customer can upload details of the parts required and receive a quote for price and delivery, all in a totally secure and transparent environment.
Likewise, work is being done on the real-time monitoring of the plant through the Lantek Control Panel. This software gives visibility and analysis of data generated at the level of load, inventory, and orders through an alert system whose objective is to maintain production at maximum performance.
As we can see, digitalization and remote work offer new dimensions at the level of services and process optimization. Key aspects when competing in a changing and uncertain environment.
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