In a recent post, we highlighted a project in collaboration with HAN UAS students, exploring the possibilities for Be Informed in manufacturing. Today, we spoke to Hans-Anton Derksen, business consultant at Be Informed, who supervised the project.
“Why can Be Informed help the industrial sector?” says Hans-Anton after working on the project from October 2019 to January 2020. “Because it is all about how your processes should work for you, regardless of your sector. We have chosen to support universities and their students in exploring what opportunities intelligent automation can bring to industrial manufacturing. The platform must support existing manufacturing systems like SCADA and MES. It will not replace those systems.”
Instead, Be Informed can be used to help industrial companies in improving company-wide analysis, control, and action.
“This is exactly what the students found out during this project: Be Informed is not a SCADA system. Instead, it can be used to help manufacturers control the complete process. It is not about that one sensor, from that one conveyor belt, stopping numerous times and costing manufacturing companies dearly. It is about how process managers handle the process as a whole. What problem occurred? How often did it occur? What measures were taken? What did it cost? And most importantly: how can we adapt the process?”
Be Informed for Manufacturing: the Connecting Element
Be Informed is a low-code application development platform specialized in system orchestration and process automation. Be Informed can integrate your data, use existing software solutions and legacy systems and connect your production layers with all quality, buyer, and sales management systems in one solution.
“From that one signal, from that one conveyor belt sensor, company-wide measures and strategic choices can emerge. Some companies may take the approach of buying 4 different software systems that are expensive and unable to communicate efficiently” says Hans-Anton. “Instead, Be Informed can be the connecting element, enabling decision makers, quality controllers, and process managers to analyze data and make decisions in one solution.”
In the financial, public, logistics, and utility sectors, Be Informed has been a proven agile accelerator for digital development since 2004. As of now, it has tackled its first challenge in the manufacturing industry. The platform is highly capable of streamlining dynamic processes, no matter the scope.
To be more specific of the platform capabilities, Hans-Anton provides some use-case examples: “Be Informed could be used to fetch data that is available on machines and sensors and start registering follow-ups. Also, Be Informed solutions could use current systems to streamline track-and-tracing, which improves control of production servicing both suppliers and customers.”
If Be Informed is ready for more applications in manufacturing? Hans-Anton: “Yes, absolutely. We’re ready to sit down together with organizations to create solutions that solve major challenges regarding manufacturing processes, help organizations mitigate risks, ensure regulatory compliance, and lower costs. Contact us, and we can help you streamline your business processes!
