New US Smart Factory Convenes Ecosystem of Innovators to Make Industry 4.0 a Reality
Deloitte has announced the grand opening of The Smart Factory @ Wichita. This new experience center marries an ecosystem of world-leading, innovative collaborators, including founders: AWS, Dragos, Infor, SAP, Siemens, and Wichita State University, and builders: Check Point, HPE, Tenable, ServiceNow, UiPath, Verizon, and more with strategy and cutting-edge technology to showcase the power of smart factory technologies.
As organizations continue to respond to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing demand for products amid a volatile supply chain, labor shortages and a fluctuating global economy, many manufacturers find themselves relying on outdated legacy systems to power their operations. Organizations that engineer an end-to-end smart manufacturing operation can increase efficiency, sustainability and cyber security, build resilience and create new levels of growth and competitive advantage.
The Smart Factory features a fully functioning manufacturing production line that combines cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, cloud and edge applications, robotics, and vision solutions.
“Manufacturers must evolve in response to unprecedented levels of supply chain and workforce disruption by reassessing the capacity and agility of their manufacturing operations. The Smart Factory @ Wichita showcases how Deloitte and our strong ecosystem of collaborators is bringing this innovation to life and helping deliver a combination of strategy and end-to-end technology to help organizations better navigate the challenges of today and tomorrow with a tech-forward approach” stated Dan Helfrich, chair and CEO, Deloitte Consulting LLP.
Experience Industry 4.0 in Action
The Smart Factory @ Wichita showcases advanced manufacturing techniques in a variety of applications on a shop floor to help organizations navigate their biggest challenges. Visitors to the new, immersive facility will experience smart factory concepts that bring together the Internet of Things, cloud, artificial intelligence, computer vision and more to create interconnected systems that use data to drive intelligent actions. They will also be involved in real-world demonstrations, hands-on workshops and see practical applications brought to life that are designed to help their organizations build a road map to accelerate growth.
The Smart Factory @ Wichita also serves as a catalyst for operational transformations and improved business results. For example, Deloitte has created a technology platform, Smart Factory Accelerator, with a suite of managed services that enable manufacturers navigating the complex digital transformation landscape to optimally achieve their operational performance objectives. The new, cloud-based, turnkey set of solutions with advanced analytics, coupled with Deloitte’s network of ecosystem relationships, solves for today’s most important operational challenges, such as visibility into end-to-end operations at scale, provides proactive, predictive operational insights, and helps achieve step-change performance objectives.
“The Smart Factory @ Wichita showcases the power and potential of bringing together some of the world’s greatest minds and solutions in a comprehensive ecosystem to demonstrate practical manufacturing applications. Through the strength of this collaborative approach, we are helping organizations accelerate innovation and make Industry 4.0 a reality” commented Stephen Laaper, principal and Smart Factory leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP
“As a manufacturing and technology hub, we continue to draw top talent and businesses to Wichita, and Wichita State University’s collaboration with Deloitte deepens opportunities for our students and community with access to the world’s top innovators and futurists coming through The Smart Factory @ Wichita as they explore how to transform their own business operations” added Dr. Rick Muma, president, Wichita State. University
For more information: www.thesmartfactory.io
