Enhancing Manufacturing Plant Productivity Through Advanced Plant Monitoring Systems

This paper discusses the importance of enhancing plant productivity through advanced plant monitoring systems, adopted in the digital era where companies strive to cope with technological advancements in the manufacturing industry. The paper offers a background for the need for monitoring systems in the manufacturing industry where product quality, labor intensity, adaptability to changes, and environmental concerns affect most companies. The paper's literature review identifies the barriers that hinder companies from adopting advanced plant monitoring systems, such as compatibility challenges with the existing systems. The analysis of the evolution of plant monitoring systems also offers a great understanding of the journey of manufacturing plant monitoring that has been undertaken in the current digital era. Therefore, the paper outlines various components of advanced plant monitoring systems, elements of data analytics in plant monitoring, and integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning in manufacturing. The benefits and challenges gathered across the discussion are then illustrated in the last section of the paper.