Nokia: Why Manufacturers Must Track Their Industrial Assets

Tom Richter, Enterprise Campus Edge Head of Manufacturing at Nokia, shared with Manufacturing Digital how asset management poses a critical challenge to manufacturers during an era of increasing supply chain and operational complexity. 

He advocates for real-time tracking as an essential means to manage assets in these conditions, highlighting the key benefits they can bring to the production line below.

What challenges do manufacturers face when managing their production lines?

Manufacturers are dealing with thousands of assets every day – raw materials, work in progress (WiP) materials, finished goods, worker tools, personnel, forklifts, AMRs and other specialist equipment.

Tracking and using these assets efficiently is often a struggle, which is further compounded by the need for manufacturers to become increasingly agile, flexible and responsive to dynamic market environments.

It’s a challenge that has real impact, with inefficient resource utilisation costing European industries up to €630 billion (US$680.4bn) annually. 

This can manifest in various ways, such as expensive equipment being underutilized or misplaced, leading to increased downtime and maintenance costs.

For example, industrial vehicles like forklifts may be used repeatedly, while others are left idle. This not only shortens the lifespan of overused equipment but also increases maintenance costs.

Mismanagement of inventory is also a prevalent issue, with studies showing that manufacturers often hold significantly more stock than needed, which, of course, reduces efficiency and profitability.

This doesn’t just influence productivity and increase costs that are often fronted by customers but can also impact worker safety. This is especially true when the movement of heavy machinery and autonomous vehicles is involved. 

Without proper tracking mechanisms, enterprises risk higher costs, lower productivity, and unsafe working conditions.

How can real-time tracking and positioning address these operational inefficiencies?

Implementing real-time tracking and positioning systems is critical to streamline operations and reduce inefficiencies, ensuring complete visibility of a manufacturers’ assets and workflows. 

It is estimated that 20% of workers’ time is spent searching for misplaced tools. Asset tracking enables workers to become more efficient and focus their time and attention on the tasks that matter. 

Location data also provides incredibly useful insights into asset utilizations and movement.

This kind of information can enable better wear and tear management on machinery by analysing usage patterns and ensuring that certain industrial vehicles aren’t being overused. will ultimately result in lower maintenance costs and improved return on investment. 

Another advantage of tracking solutions is the ability to identify any previously invisible obstacles to workflow, such as poorly designed shopfloor layouts or delays in material movement. This becomes especially important as manufacturers increasingly rely on AMRs.

Knowing their location and movement across the factory supports real-time rerouting in case of blocked pathways, and analysis of historical data can uncover inefficient site layouts to help improve the flow of mobile assets in the longer term.

Through monitoring this data, goods and materials move seamlessly through the factory and equipment can be stored in the most effective way, preventing any avoidable delays and the misplacement of assets.

Knowing the location of assets creates visibility of the status of workflows. This will undoubtedly lead to improved productivity. 

What types of tracking solutions are available for different industrial needs?

Regardless of asset’s location, or the complexity of the site, there is a range of different tracking solutions and technologies tailored to different business needs. 

For example, a high-accuracy Bluetooth solution consumes little energy and can help locate assets like AMRs and shared worker tools. 

Using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to scan barcodes or to read passive tags is a great way to easily track items in the thousands and automate inventory management in a cost-efficient manner.

Intelligent camera-based positioning systems provide an alternative “non-intrusive” tracking solution for those not wanting to use physical tracking tags.

This is especially useful to ensure the safety of short-term contractors or one-time site visitors, where it’s not economical or convenient to use physical tracking devices. 

In outdoor environments, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) also in combination with cellular network tracking solutions can monitor the exact locations of vehicles and other machinery, as well as those of workers to ensure fast response times in case of emergencies.  

In any case, incorporating location information with the intelligence of the connectivity network provides useful add-ons as the pure knowledge of location can be enriched with collected sensor data to provide a comprehensive picture of situational awareness. 

Irrespective of the chosen solution businesses must be equipped with strong connectivity and on-premises computing capabilities to ensure real-time data processing can happen.

In mission-critical working environments, where delays not only have substantial financial, but also safety risks, real-time processing is imperative for making quick and effective decisions. 

What are the key benefits of implementing real-time tracking and positioning on manufacturing campuses?

Having real-time tracking and positioning in place provides several benefits for worksite productivity.

As well as improving operational efficiency, real-time tracking systems allow manufacturers to optimise their maintenance schedules.

This can reduce any unforeseen breakdowns of equipment and extend the lifespan of assets by tracking the usage patterns and therefore ensuring maintenance is carried out effectively. 

Another fundamental benefit is improved worker safety.

In an emergency, these systems can locate workers quickly, so that they can be attended to or guided out of harm’s way.

They can even help prevent accidents from occurring in the first place, by tracking the movements of heavy equipment or mobile robots to ensure operations are taking place safely. 

Not to mention the huge benefit of recovering missing assets. Having tools, materials and equipment readily available when and where needed offers a substantial advantage by reducing search time and unnecessary replacement costs.

The increased productivity and efficiency, reduced costs and improved safety for workers ultimately creates not just more profitable, but also more sustainable operations, giving manufacturers an edge in the marketplace.

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