Resilience needs to be built into today’s manufacturing, says automation supplier

Adaptability is no longer just a competitive advantage but a necessity, says Omron, and technology can play its part in providing valuable scope for more flexible production.

Manufacturers across all sectors face continuous disruption, the company points out: changing regulations, unpredictable demand, shifting supply chains, a growing workforce shortage and skills gap. Resilience is not something that can be tacked on after the fact, argues Fernando Colás, chief executive of Omron Industrial Automation Europe. It must be designed into the system.

He outlines five principles for designing resilience into manufacturing operations.

1. Put customers and partners first
   Colás believes that resilient manufacturers share a common trait: they prioritise long-term relationships. Whether it be strong partnerships with customers or technology providers, these human connections are just as important to resilience as any machine or system.
   
   
2. Flexibility is the new efficiency
   Today, flexibility matters just as much as efficiency. “Production systems need to shift seamlessly between product lines, scale with demand and swiftly adapt to supply fluctuations,” says Colás.   “This means rethinking processes and investing in technologies that support modularity and rapid reconfiguration.”
   
   
3. Use smart sensing and data management
   “Advanced sensing technologies can play a crucial role in building resilience,” Colás states. They not only provide real-time data to detect everything from quality deviations to early signs of machine wear, but also support traceability and regulatory compliance.
   
   
4. Integration is the key to agility
   To adapt at speed, manufacturers need systems that are both fast and flexible. “Integrated automation platforms enable this kind of agility by seamlessly unifying control, motion, safety, vision and robotics within a single architecture,” he claims.
   
   
5. Resilience must be designed in
   True operational resilience cannot come from patchwork fixes, Omron argues. “It comes from integrated systems that are built to evolve,” says Colás. Forward-looking manufacturers are designing with resilience from the ground up, embedding it into everything from supply networks to control systems.

Naturally, the company would argue that a fully-integrated, intelligent automation architecture like its own Sysmac platform - unifying multiple functions into a single environment – embodies this type of deep-rooted resilience.

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www.omron.co.uk