Neural plants – The factories of the future

In the hyper-competitive manufacturing world, companies are increasingly leveraging automation.

Autonomous operations and capabilities are providing a new opportunity to enhance performance. Remote operations with minimal touch have become cornerstones in manufacturing transformation. But is being just automated good enough for sustainable growth? What if your manufacturing plant is constantly learning and adapting? What if looking into other domains for inspiration can open new avenues for future growth?

We believe the future of manufacturing is neural, where an organic whole responds to external stimuli, heals itself, predicts danger, perceives anomalies, and acts in self-defence. We at TCS call this the factory of the future—more specifically, a factory that feels.

Our conception of a neural plant is an autonomous and resilient factory ecosystem, where contextual intelligence permeates all aspects of operations—be it planning, production, or logistics. Supported by a purpose-driven ecosystem, the adaptive, resilient, and sustainable manufacturing core draws from the 3Cs: connected workforce, connected assets, and connected operations. Like a biological system, devices like sensors and vision cameras lend the neural plant its ability to see, hear, and feel. Connected autonomous systems like robots, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and drones ply the plant with continuous learning, allowing it to make intelligent decisions across day-to-day operations.

But creating contextual intelligence is easier said than done. While 5G and extended technologies will make capturing humongous data sets easier, effective data utilization remains a challenge. TCS can help answer this complexity by creating a centralized and autonomous network of intelligent decision-making systems powered by edge computing devices, artificial intelligence (AI), and 5G. Such a network will comprise an interplay of the workforce and a central command center, which will result in zero emissions, zero incidents, zero paper, and zero touch