Global engineering and design consultantcy Arup launched "Rethinking the Factory," a report exploring the emerging trends, processes, and technologies that are transforming the manufacturing landscape. The report examines how the introduction of new technologies such as 3D printing, self-cleaning and self-healing materials, human/robot collaboration will lead to faster, more efficient and environmentally friendly production.
While many believe robots will replace humans in the factories of the future, the report, developed by Arup’s Foresight + Research + Innovation and Science and Industry teams, suggests collaboration between the two will be key. The integration of cameras and smart sensors already allow robots to adapt to their external environments.
Increasingly intuitive, their ability to infer a full task after being shown just a portion of it will enable workers to serve as robot supervisors, operating machinery and controlling smart production processes such as program and systems management and data analysis, rather than participating in manual labor. The increasing technicality of factories will mean that employees with STEM[1] skills will be particularly sought after, further exacerbating the international shortage of highly skilled workers, set to reach 40 million by 2020.
Beyond machines, new materials have the potential to improve the production process and increase product performance. A variety of self-healing and self-cleaning materials are being developed—such as bio-inspired plastic, which replicate the strength, durability, and versatility of a natural insect cuticles—which are capable of repairing damage without human intervention. These technologies will extend the lifetime of manufactured goods and reduce demand for raw materials.
Big data, technology, and 3D printing
The utilization of 3D printing—or more accurately, additive manufacturing—will allow manufacturing to be more mobile and dispersed. Factory locations are therefore likely to become both more varied and closer to the consumer, including the emergence of nontraditional spaces such as small offices in a city center. This will allow production to take place closer to the point of use, lowering transport costs and emissions.
Intelligence based on Big Data, advanced analytics, and the Internet of Things will create new opportunities for competitive advantage. Analysis of data will reveal detailed customer insights, identify new product opportunities sooner, and get new products and designs to market faster. Additive manufacturing and digital technologies will also make this mass customisation, faster, easier and more affordable.
Resilient and Adaptive Spaces
Flexibility will be critical to tackling changing consumer demands and shifting market trends. Factories will be adaptable, with modular building techniques to enable efficient re-scaling and diversification of production across various locations. This will also allow energy, water, and material consumption to be managed more effectively in an increasingly constrained resource market, while producing an environment best suited to meet the multiple needs of its highly skilled workforce.
Using tools such as BIM in factory design, planning and management will play a critical role in allowing manufacturers to foresee and mitigate issues based on access to resources, location choices, weather risks and transportation needs.
The design of the factory will also be more focused on consumer experience, utilising the factory as a showroom. The concept of the "transparent factory" will gain increased importance as more people get involved in making products or as they expect closer insight into how products are manufactured, especially at a customised level. The opportunity for factory owners and operators lies in adapting their existing spaces to enable these types of experiences to take place.
“The convergence of the physical and digital worlds means that manufacturers have to continue to adapt and adopt new processes quicker than ever before," Duncan White, Science and Industry Leader at Arup said in a press release. "While developing sustainable and resilient practices will be essential, having access to a skilled pool of workers will prove to be equally important and challenging as these changes are made. As such, it is critical that companies and policy-makers have a comprehensive understanding of the changing manufacturing landscape."
Rethinking the Factory is part of Arup’s Future of… series that envisages the possible futures by highlighting innovations from around the world. Previous reports include the Future of Highways, Future of Rail, Cities Alive, and It’s Alive.
For further information on Rethinking the Factory please download the report.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Wisconsin becomes the first state to require BIM on public projects
As of July 1, the Wisconsin Division of State Facilities will require all state projects with a total budget of $5 million or more and all new construction with a budget of $2.5 million or more to have their designs begin with a Building Information Model. The new guidelines and standards require A/E services in a design-bid-build project delivery format to use BIM and 3D software from initial ...
| Aug 11, 2010
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
| Aug 11, 2010
Luxury Hotel required faceted design
Goettsch Partners, Chicago, designed a new five-star, 214-room hotel for the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The design-build project, with Saudi Oger Ltd. as contractor and Rayadah Investment Co. as developer, has a three-story podium supporting a 17-story glass tower with a nine-story opening that allows light to penetrate the mass of the building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Architectural Visualization Rendering the Future
Three-dimensional design tools have revolutionized the way architects and engineers design buildings; in recent years, parametric modeling has enabled Building Teams to impart weight tolerances and other intelligent information to a finished design. Yet many designers say they use 3D most in the conceptual design stage, when detailed building information is not necessary and can actually encumb...
| Aug 11, 2010
Big-time BIM
As the need for new state, county, and municipal facilities keeps growing and funding for public building construction continues to shrink, state and local officials are left with two basic options: renovate dilapidated older buildings and hope for the best, or build new facilities on anemic budgets.
| Aug 11, 2010
Dotting the I in IPD
Collaboration software is going beyond just sharing files. It is being used to enable full building information modeling early in design. Two programs are enabling Building Teams to more easily share the information in BIM and use it for integrated project delivery: Bluebeam Software, which just released the newest version of its AEC-specific PDF collaboration tool; and eBuilder Enterprise, a W...
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Business Management
22. Commercial Properties Repositioned for University USE Tocci Building Companies is finding success in repositioning commercial properties for university use, and it expects the trend to continue. The firm's Capital Cove project in Providence, R.I., for instance, was originally designed by Elkus Manfredi (with design continued by HDS Architects) to be a mixed-use complex with private, market-...
| Aug 11, 2010
BIM adoption tops 80% among the nation's largest AEC firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 survey
The nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction companies are on the BIM bandwagon in a big way, according to Building Design+Construction's premier Top 50 BIM Adopters ranking, published as part of the 2009 Giants 300 survey. Of the 320 AEC firms that participated in Giants survey, 83% report having at least one BIM seat license in house, half have more than 30 seats, and near...
| Aug 11, 2010
Thrown For a Loop in China
While the Bird's Nest and Water Cube captured all the TV coverage during the Beijing Olympics in August, the Rem Koolhaas-designed CCTV Headquarters in Beijing—known as the “Drunken Towers” or “Big Shorts,” for its unusual shape—is certain to steal the show when it opens next year.