This month, Autodesk announced its acquisition of Prodsmart, an optimization software maker that enables companies to track and analyze the manufacturing process in real time. The move is part of Autodesk’s strategy to bolster smart manufacturing in the wake of unprecedented supply chain disruptions and volatile demand.
Manufacturers have been significantly impacted by the pandemic’s toll on the availability of labor and the lack of products and materials caused by supply chain delays. In turn, the reality of the past two years has spurred greater adoption of digital technologies on factory floors to make production more efficient, help forecast demand and address supply chain issues. Such changes require software that can conduct computing at the network edge and give factory managers usable data to predict maintenance needs for machines, analyze workflow and elevate efficiency by reducing energy usage and waste.
Prodsmart’s software is designed to enable manufacturers to automate, connect and digitize processes on the shop floor. The company claims that its software provides production insights from ordering to shipping and the stages in between.
According to Innovation Nest, the pandemic created a “perfect storm” that led to Prodsmart gaining global retailer clients and offering more supply chain visibility solutions for its suppliers.
“We’re particularly excited about what CIMCO was quietly working on the past few years,” stated Srinath Jonnalagadda, Autodesk vice president of Design & Manufacturing Industry Strategy, in a company press release. “They’ve developed technology that automates the process of defining machine strategies and provides a browser-based experience. This allows machinists to better connect to the rest of the product development lifecycle.”
Last year, Autodesk also acquired Upchain, a cloud-native dual product data management and product lifecycle management software company. In particular, Upchain’s software provided a differentiated data experience to bridge data and processing management workflow gaps. Combined with Autodesk Fusion 360 integrated CAD, CAM, CAE and PCB software, the acquisition was intended to simplify data sharing and collaboration for engineers, manufacturers and suppliers to get products to market faster.
These Autodesk acquisitions are part of two broader trends. First, there’s been a major recent uptake in mergers and acquisitions, with $634.1 billion worth of deals in 2020—a trend that continues. Second, the rise of the digital factory is harnessing technologies like the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), AI and big data to remake the purely mechanical and human-run manufacturing plants of yesteryear into advanced production lines that are more adaptable and efficient, and which offer the people who run them greater insight into what’s happening at all stages of production in real time.
Autodesk states that its software enables manufacturers to design and develop digital factories from the ground up. The tools start with project planning and extend to digital models of factories that show building designs and equipment layout in 2D and 3D. The software also allows for coordination across project teams to analyze progress, collaborate with contractors and suppliers, and simulate the progress of factory construction. Once the digital factory is up and running, Autodesk offers tools that enable production to operate at peak efficiency.