Kissing manufacturing’s gaping wounds, laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, will not make them better. We need to infuse systems with greater resilience.
Imitation Is the Best Form of Survival
The good news is, if infected with the COVID-19 virus, the majority of us can recover by relying on our own immune systems. How do we manage this without having been exposed to this type of virus before? We have our adaptable internal defense processes to thank. Our bodies study and analyze; calibrate and re-calibrate efforts until the threat dissipates. Afterwards, there is intense rebuilding work to make use stronger than we were before. Our bodies keep us safe by observing, adapting, and learning from experience. Constant assessment and adaptation to the changing effects of an infection is at the crux of our immunity. After all, this is the essence of survival.There are powerful parallels here to how industries can design more resilient systems to inoculate against adversity.Particularly, the world of manufacturing.
Everybody Hurts
Manufacturing Compromises
Survival of the Fittest
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
- Unknown but attributed often with Charles DarwinWe observed 3 key obstacles that manufacturers had to overcome to manufacture essential items:
- ‘Big Manufacturing’ could not immediately adapt processes to produce ventilators and other essentials. They had to partner up with medical device manufacturers. This delay cost us valuable time in the battle against the Coronavirus.
- Ventilators had to be re-designed or simplified to their core elements before manufacture.
- Producing essential goods in industries that bank on manual labor is like walking a tightrope. How do you mass-produce necessary goods while keeping employees safe? Coronavirus outbreaks have already affected the American meatpacking and food processing industry. All factories need to keep a tight grip on safety protocols to prevent infection.
While immediate danger calls for quick innovations, true strength-building lies in the aftermath.This applies to our bodies fighting infection or industries trying to survive in a crisis. This pandemic lends significant opportunity to reflect upon renovating legacy systems for endurance. How can we weave in threads of resiliency through our manufacturing systems to ensure long-term sustainability?
An Eye for Change
An outsider’s perception of a modern-day factory vs. real life
One may imagine a line of advanced and efficient robots employed in assembling cars or other products. But the ground reality involves much more manual labor for simple tasks. This is only because automation today, doesn’t allow robot arms to “see” and “learn” as they go. Need to pick an item out of a bin of items? Manual labor. Fix a screw in place and turn it? Manual labor. Handle dynamic objects like wires or cables? Manual labor.More people does not signify higher productivity or a better economy
This is another urban legend that adaptable automation can address while crisis-proofing the economy.We need to design automation systems with resilience in mind to prevent a breakdown during the next crisis.Several countries are already beginning to think along these lines. Mark Cuban, a prominent American billionaire, called for more automation and sophisticated robotics to safeguard American manufacturing. China is ramping up robot deployment in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. India is working on robotics to help in the healthcare space.
In rushing to deploy robots, the main issue remains unaddressed.Automation’s predicament is that even advanced robots can only do very simple tasks, such as:
- picking up very specific items and placing them in a particular pre-programmed location, and
- moving around in a pre-programmed fashion to disinfect or clean.
“Government systems suffer from two weaknesses. They are complex. And they are slow. We need to change this. Our systems need to be made sharp, effective, fast, and flexible…”
— Prime Minister of India, Narendra ModiThe same can be said of manufacturing and global supply chain systems. It’s time to rebuild — for greater immunity against future crises.
After COVID-19: Manufacturing Needs to Boost Its Immunity was originally published in cynlr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.