Efficiency is one of the top order priorities in the engineering and manufacturing sector. Efficient and innovative engineering solutions and manufacturing lines will yield efficient byproducts in terms of usage and value for money.
Efficiency as a strategic objective is increasingly becoming more important than before for businesses in the sector to keep up with the evolving industry standards, remain competitive, and achieve sustainability goals and objectives. Occupations in the sector require its key personnel such as technicians, engineers, researchers, and managers to be conscious of environmental efficiencies at every step and drive progress in the industry to develop, produce or test new / existing products, processes, or procedures as per customer requirements as efficiently and effectively as possible to ensure quality and compliance at every stage, and timely delivery within budget constraints.
Efficiency is a continuum and can always be improved upon. It has a broader and deeper remit and refers to both high-level and low-level/specific aspects. For example, at higher levels, efficiency in engineering refers to aspects such as scalability, standardization, modular design, long-term compatibility (i.e., backward, and forward), automation, continuous supply chain, large-scale
the rollout, sustainability, and so on. At lower levels, it refers to specific activities and/or aspects including straightforward use of machines and tools, fast and simple adaptations of a given method/solution/ tool, easy installation, reuse of components, single verification, easy maintenance, etc.
With the growing need to achieve rapid convergence between engineering, manufacturing, and technology areas, the scope for gaining efficiencies through new and emerging technologies such as robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), additive manufacturing, and composite materials seems limitless. Efficiency gains typically include savings in learning times, training times, completion times, effort and workloads, resource-related savings, overall costs, and so on. For example, cloud-based digital solutions such as the ‘Bee’ tool (also known as M2030 bee) allow resource efficiency improvements simple and achievable for all manufacturers.
