From supply chain tension caused by a six-day traffic jam in the Suez Canal to drastic market shifts due to a global pandemic, the manufacturing industry is brimming with disruption and uncertainty.
Looking at the industry on a granular level, the majority of IT and OT systems and processes are not set up to help businesses respond quickly to unexpected market shifts. Whether it’s consumer packaged goods (CPG), pharmaceuticals, automotive, or logistics, much of the industry still relies on manual data collection, siloed data across disparate systems, and primitive legacy systems.
In fact, a recent PwC survey on manufacturing operations systems found that:
- 33% of respondents still use traditional pen and paper
- 33% rely on a stand-alone system
- 36% depend on email
If we learned anything from 2020, it’s that manufacturers across all domains desperately require the ability to respond and adapt to urgent market needs with agility and flexibility.
These are lofty goals for those with erratic tech stacks and archaic operational processes. But as Deloitte points out in their Manufacturing Industry Outlook Report, resilience hinges on a commitment to improving operational agility. “By continuing to invest in digital initiatives across their production process and supply network, manufacturers can respond to the disruptions caused by the pandemic and build resilience that can enable them to thrive.”
Introducing: Mendix for Industries
During his keynote address at Mendix World 2021, CEO Derek Roos proposed a solution: “Every business can uniquely differentiate their products and services by blending custom development with new tools and capabilities.”
The Mendix low-code Platform has long provided the tools, services, and support organizations need to develop custom, high-quality applications fast. Our customers and partners are always searching for domain-specific solutions, so we compiled all the technology, community access, and services that relate to specific industries and curated them in a single, easy-to-access location.
Roos went on to say, “Imagine a destination for common data models, templates, connectors to commonly used systems, app services, out-of-the-box workflows, and other components from which adaptive solutions can be composed, customized, and extended — all on the Mendix platform, and tailored to your industry.”
We call these new domain-focused digital ecosystems Mendix for Industries.
Mendix for Manufacturing Industries
“Mendix for Manufacturing Industries is an ecosystem that verticalizes our Platform,” says Raffaello Lepratti, Vice President of Mendix for Manufacturing Industries. “The idea is to make our technology more accessible and tangible for manufacturing-specific industries.”
Exclusively curated for manufacturers, Mendix for Manufacturing Industries includes domain-specific tools and components to better support makers throughout the application development lifecycle. The following tools are available in Mendix Marketplace:
- App services: Share functionality between your Mendix apps. App services for manufacturers include a 3D Viewer, MindSphere IIoT for Makers, and more.
- Templates: Start building your applications with our library of templates, including blank mobile and web apps, Smart Warehousing for inventory management, and an augmented reality starter app.
- Widgets: Customize your Mendix apps with configurable single user-interface elements, such as our rich text editor.
- Solutions: A collection of pre-built applications, including a Workplace Manager to facilitate COVID-19 capacity restrictions and a Marine Issue Manager to keep track of issues when on board.
- Modules: Add our manufacturing modules to your app to create new functionality with accompanying domain models and security options. Examples include Mendix Application Performance Diagnostics and Bizzomate Progress Monitor.
- Connectors: Integrate your Mendix apps with other systems. Connectors include Database Connector, Salesforce Connector, IBM Watson Connector Suite, and more.
Manufacturers also become part of a growing community of expert partners, global integrators, and over 250,000 makers.
Mendix for Manufacturing Industries in action
Like many other manufacturers, global capital goods company CNH Industrial relied on several disparate IT and OT systems. Data gathering was a time-consuming, complex process that negatively impacted engineering, purchasing, and supply chain operations. CNH Industrial’s biggest challenge was connecting their multisite Teamcenter Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system, enterprise Engineering Bill of Material (BoM) system, and legacy drawing document management system.
With Mendix’s solutions for manufacturing, CNH built the Digital Product Data (DPD) web app that finally connects data from these systems. The team used Mendix for Manufacturing Industries components including Teamcenter Connector, custom integrations to MatrixOne’s Engineering Central, as well as iView and 3D Viewer for examining 2D and 3D data.
DPD has become an integral part of CNH’s operations. The united source of data has led to an overwhelming amount of positive end-user feedback, a 50% reduction in effort spent using multiple systems, and an 85% decrease in the number of system clicks.
To build modern, digital-first applications at speed and scale, you need to evolve from one-off solutions and leverage reusable components like adaptable solutions, widgets, connectors, and domain-specific APIs. Mendix for Manufacturing Industries assembles all the vital pieces for building industry-specific solutions quickly, so you and your team can start solving more problems faster.
Ready to explore the Mendix for Manufacturing Industries? Get started by creating a Mendix account or visit the Mendix Marketplace to browse our collection of manufacturing resources.