Embedded Systems - Serving as Catalysts for Change in Manufacturing

The evolution of manufacturing from artisan-led processes to tech-driven automation has redefined industry standards, boosting efficiency, precision, and sustainability. This article explores how ERP, IoT, and AI have transformed modern manufacturing, enabling smarter, agile operations in an increasingly competitive market.

- Darshil Shah

Before the Industrial Revolution hit the manufacturing sector, goods were primarily produced by skilled artisans. The production was largely small-scale and labour-intensive. Since these methods could not cope with the rising demand, industries started investing in technologies. This investment paid off. Innovations such as spinning jenny completely revolutionised the cloth industry. The manufacturing sector, too, was not out of this wave of innovation. Driven by the need for greater precision, quality, and quantity, automation systems and industrial machinery began to replace manual labour. However, in this early phase, machines operated independently with minimal communication between systems and active human intervention, limiting overall efficiency.

Limitations of Traditional Manufacturing

The growing population in the 18th and 19th centuries increased the demand for consumer and other household goods, but traditional methods of hand-made production could not keep up with rising demand. Before modern technologies entered into manufacturing, it had various major problems. The systems and departments operated in silos and thus brought inefficiencies in coordination and decision-making. Equipment downtime was the other major problem because, most of the time, maintenance of equipment was reactive in nature, which led to a breakdown that would occur with no warning at all hence, halting the process of production.