No matter in what country a product is being made, it’s hard to make things cost-effectively with a lot of workers, he says. Read this white paper to discover more about the challenges and opportunities presented by the lights-out approach, and how a feasible deployment can provide realistic value to manufacturers. Although cost is a major barrier to lights-out manufacturing, Aja sees machines performing an increasing number of tasks in factories around the world. New opportunities for manufacturing industriesįorward-looking manufacturers may seize opportunities today to implement lights-out processes within their conventional and smart factories – making for a “lights-sparse” facility or production line. Digital tools are essential, and they ensure that quality and efficiency are built into the manufacturing process and are proactively and systematically enforced.

Lights-out manufacturing can bring about continuous improvement, reduced production costs, and improved quality. There are many reasons ( cost and maintenance, e.g.), but they’re all subordinate to a two facts. Manufacturers are using a comprehensive digital twin, with embedded IoT data and analytics, as the factory of the future is being built today with digital manufacturing technologies. Historically, however, most lights out factories have failed. Factory of the future being built today with digital manufacturing technologies Thus the term lights out manufacturing came up. When everything is done by robots, no people are needed and subsequently no light. Also known as dark factory, this term refers to the complete automation of a production facility. An agile microfactory is also capable of high-mix, low-volume business with low cost and high ROI. The definition of lights-out manufacturing is pretty much self-explanatory. Microfactories can also be designed from the very beginning with sustainability taken into consideration. Contract manufacturers and corporations benefit from micro factoriesĬontract manufacturers setting up microfactories can benefit from easy and cost-effective digital technology to take advantage of embracing digital tools from the very beginning. The concept of a “lights-out” factory – one in which the requirements for human activity are so minimal that the facility can operate in the dark – has been around for decades, but the digital and automation technologies needed to make it a reality at scale are just now maturing.ĭownload this white paper to learn more about the challenges and current opportunities presented by a lights-out approach and how these new concepts are optimizing manufacturing toward the factory of the future.

Lights out manufacturing