More and more manufacturing companies are beginning to hope that through digital transformation, they will promote quality improvement, cost reduction and efficiency enhancement, and enhance their anti-risk capabilities. However, when it is truly implemented in each specific business scenario, how to truly achieve business efficiency improvement based on data?

The lighthouse factory, a leader in the transformation of the manufacturing industry.

As of now, the global “lighthouse factory” network of the World Economic Forum has 44 members, 12 of which are located in China. In the application of the fourth industrial revolution technology, they have surpassed the “pilot” dilemma, made a qualitative leap in operation and performance, and successfully realized digital transformation.

Take a “lighthouse factory” in China as an example. In order to accurately identify customer needs and reduce costs, the “lighthouse factory” has carried out a digital transformation to open up the end-to-end value chain. Driven by data and artificial intelligence, its research and development cycle has been shortened By 20%, operating costs were reduced by 35%; at the same time, it successfully developed new businesses and achieved a 35% increase in revenue.

It is worth pointing out that no “lighthouse factory” has completed digital transformation alone. They all rely on partnerships to acquire or jointly develop new knowledge. And Microsoft has become the choice of many business partners.

Microsoft solutions, five scenarios make manufacturing “smart”

In recent years, Microsoft has helped thousands of companies successfully digitally transform. Especially during the epidemic, Microsoft supports remote collaborative work of many enterprises and meets the supply of important products. A wealth of practical experience on the ground proves that Microsoft solutions can allow enterprises to arm themselves from these 5 levels.

First, empower employees to be productive.
With the help of Microsoft Office 365 and Windows 10, General Electric (GE) enables 300,000 employees to quickly understand machine data, master core business faster, and increase work proficiency, thereby increasing delivery speed, increasing productivity and achieving safe collaboration.

Second, a new customer interaction model.
The printer manufacturer Lexmark uses all products from Microsoft Azure to Microsoft 365 to Microsoft Dynamics 365 to manage the entire printer order cycle in an all-round way, building a differentiated advantage of proactively providing services to customers and improving customer satisfaction .

Third, build agile and efficient factories.
Unilever uses IoT (Internet of Things) and intelligent edge services in the Azure IoT platform to enable digital twins, connect factory machines and equipment to each other, and help operators make better decisions through new product development and process reshaping.

Fourth, build a resilient supply chain.
As manufacturers reshape themselves and their supply chains, sustainability will become a greater focus and priority. Snack manufacturer Majans uses Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management and IoT intelligence to convert IoT-enabled device data into actionable insights on the production line, and realizes supply chain visualization, effectively enhancing the flexibility and resilience of the supply chain.

Fifth, science and technology help intelligent manufacturing and innovation.
As one of the most successful manufacturers of high-end cars and motorcycles, the Audi Group is on the road to self-driving cars, using Microsoft Azure to optimize in the built simulation environment, and the massive data collected by the test vehicles is used to create simulations. Save time, cost and manpower step by step; gain new insights and digital innovation through the Microsoft product-as-a-service model.

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