The future of innovation in the manufacturing industry

Tamaulipas

By Anayancy Ulloa

Faced with an increasingly competitive environment, innovation is key to the development of the manufacturing sector

 

The manufacturing industry is one of the main engines of the economy in Mexico, the integration of smart solutions based on the adoption of 4.0 technologies and the drive for innovation are essential for the growth of this sector.

It is important to make a distinction between what is innovation and continuous improvement, issues ingrained in the manufacturing industry such as: kaizen or lean manufacturing  are  continuous improvement systems that are very good and have allowed process improvements.

A definition of innovation must contain three keys: change, which consists of having something new, some improvement; risk, which is where the distinction between continuous improvement and innovation lies; and the generation of value, doing something that is more productive, even the most efficient.

Innovation, therefore, is distinguished by incorporating risks, while it is not the case for continuous improvement.

"A definition for me of innovation is: any change based on knowledge that implies a risk and that seeks above all to generate value," said Daniel Covarrubias, director of the Center for Socioeconomic and Technological Innovation (CIST) in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

It innovates when uncertain results begin to be faced, while, on the other hand, continuous improvement is made based on requested needs, either by the market or by customers. 

 

HOW THE TAMAULIPAS COMPANIES ARE SITUATED

Covarrubias explained that many companies in the manufacturing sector in Tamaulipas continue to work on their continuous improvement processes without really becoming innovative. He said that while this is not bad, it does slow the incorporation of any innovation into their processes a bit. 

In addition, he said that it is important to know the ways in which innovation can be classified: according to its magnitude; How big is the innovation?

By openness, he commented, if it is an innovation that is open to the outside or if it is totally closed; whether the innovation is technological or not; And by its nature, this is where it applies if it is an innovation in the product, in the process, in its marketing or in the organization.

The companies are going to generate continuous improvements and perhaps also generate incremental innovations, but also, due to the nature of how these manufacturing companies are constituted, we must not forget that they depend on a corporate in the US and, generally, it is in This is where most of the research and development is done.

"In the companies that are located in Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo or Matamoros, there is little research and development that they do," said Daniel Covarrubias.

It is here where the CIST has been looking for research and development laboratories to be installed in Tamaulipas as well. 

“That, just as they have their manufacturing plants, they set up research and development centers; this would help to promote innovation within the operating factories and there could be more generation of innovation in the products they manufacture, in the processes they are using to carry them out or in the organizational models, to name a few areas ”, he highlighted.

He added that if the command or decision-making power were held in Mexico or Tamaulipas, it would be much easier for companies to innovate and venture into all the new exponential technologies because they do not have to request so many permits.

He explained that, through the work carried out by the CIST with manufacturing companies, they try to instill the generation of innovation teams –there are some that do– and these teams are looking to improve their products and processes; some companies do have this freedom, but there are others that are more restricted on the subject.

 

SYSTEMATIZE INNOVATION

For Daniel Covarrubias, the key to generating innovation within companies is to be able to systematize it, understanding this to establish a set of routines and activities that are integrated day by day, that are part of the processes.

"That, just as there are processes for ISO, quality, production, that have processes within the organization that help innovate, and this is what I call systematizing innovation," he said.

He added that it is important to have a process of generating creativity, ideas, see if these can be landed and have the team to follow up.

In Nuevo Laredo there are about 32 manufacturing companies and only one of them has research and development laboratories; They make prototypes and models of new functions for their products, local engineers are doing research and development that turns into innovation.

“This is what we are looking for when we say that Mexico competes to have a highly specialized and functional workforce for what manufacturing companies are looking for; It is good for it to be attractive for investment, however, it would be even better to say that Mexico has engineers full of creativity, who are good at innovating, than to say that in this country there are research and development centers within the operating plants with which new machines and processes arise, to compete in this way in terms of innovation. We must not only compete for this specialized workforce, but also compete based on knowledge and this will lead us to the companies that establish themselves in Tamaulipas to be more innovative ”, added the director of the CIST.

 

MANUFACTURING AGAINST INNOVATION

Luis Hernández, director of operations for Caterpillar in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, said that the topic of innovation is necessary and imperative in the manufacturing industry and that it is critical that people work and talk about it, since it is the way in which it is will survive and add value to the facilities that are located in this municipality.

He pointed out what innovation means to him, describing it as "creative and transformational thinking that generates significant benefit, be it financial or otherwise."

At a global level, this company has a strategy in which they invest in three types of innovation:

1.- Growth innovation.

2.- Sustainability innovation.

3.- Efficiency innovation.

"In Nuevo Laredo we see more efficiency innovation, we are focused on processes, on how to be more efficient and how we reduce the cost of our products," said Luis Hernández.

He also explained that in traditional manufacturing the main levers are efficiency in labor or production input costs, but in remanufacturing, which is the company's business, there is also another lever that is the cost of the material. .

The nature of Caterpillar, being a remanufacturing company, allows many opportunities for innovation, since there is technology such as laser welding and metal powder that allows - for example - the injector capsule to wear out due to its operation and that It has porosities, adding powdered metal using a laser process that heats up the specific area that this material requires.

"This is innovation made by local engineers and that allows the use of the material to be made more efficient," Hernández highlighted.

 

THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING 

The theme of industry 4.0 is a reality, the exponential technologies that occur within this industry are setting the trend in the direction where manufacturing companies should go; In this regard, those who accept and assimilate it faster are the ones who are going to win, but all, sooner or later, will have to start using this type of technology.

Daniel Covarrubias added that with all this issue of the pandemic and economic crisis that was generated by the health crisis itself, he hopes it has been enough for them to realize that it is necessary to advance on automation issues. Now, the issue of the digital industry is already a reality and it is necessary to take advantage of this type of technologies, such as augmented reality and virtual reality, to be able to generate more efficient training processes that can create maintenance processes, in the same way more effective, where they use these technologies to connect from a distance.

In addition, he stressed that the issue of cybersecurity is the most important exponential technology of all, since here is the basis.

“If you are increasingly connecting machines and devices through the internet of things ( internet of things ) and all the information is being generated, as well as it is being generated, they must protect it to avoid vulnerability problems that may be faced by external ”, He explained.

About data analytics in these types of manufacturing companies, he mentioned that it provides a lot of valuable information, but it is overwhelming, and this type of technology provides the tools to be more efficient and productive.

Regarding artificial intelligence in manufacturing processes, Daniel Covarrubias said that it is still poorly understood, however, it is something that has a great future, as well as what refers to machine learning.

He concluded by mentioning that the future of manufacturing is this: who is going to win? companies and countries, in this case states that prepare a knowledge base that can feed these companies with personnel that allows them to explore and implement these opportunities related to exponential technologies.