Manufacturers need to change rapidly because digital technologies are disrupting not only the way to do business and to collaborate with customers but also the manufacturing supply chains and manufacturing operations. If manufacturing truly adopts the next ware of digital technologies, productivity will explode.
According to IDC FutureScape Worldwide Manufacturing Predictions 2018, already by 2020, 60% of manufacturers will rely on digital platforms, which will support as much as 30% of their overall revenue. By 2021, 20% of the top manufacturers will depend on a secure backbone of embedded intelligence to automate large-scale processes and speed execution times by up to 25%. The main innovation accelerators are:
* IoT
* cognitive computing
* next-generation security
* 3D printing
* robotics, and
* augmented and virtual reality.
Furthermore, cognitive technologies will drive towards highly automated supply chains with optimized asset utilization.
Productivity explodes
The speed of the change predicted is huge. Can we understand what this actually means for industry? For quite some time, productivity has been stagnated or only slowly increased. One of the reasons is that the current digitalization development has reached a mature level, where most of our practical operations work well even when using slightly outdated computers, smart phones, software and connections. Advances in such technologies do not necessarily add much to effectiveness or disrupt current operations.
The next, already ongoing, wave of digitalization (IoT, big data, digital platforms etc.) is different. We are witnessing the convergence of digital and physical worlds where decision-making is based on full situation awareness and where actions are optimally automatized. As traditional sectors, such as manufacturing, truly adopt the next ware of digital technologies, productivity will explode.
Customers and ecosystems are central
This is a great opportunity for agile actors to make manufacturing in high-cost countries profitable again. It also enables true customer-centricity where consumers’ and users’ individual needs are followed and future desires anticipated.
As a result of the increased overall efficiency due to the adoption of digital technologies, automation and material and manufacturing innovations, unique products can be produced with mass production efficiency. Cognitive technologies support fast product introductions and delivery, which in turn increase customer satisfaction and profitability.
Those companies that want to belong to the 60% share of manufacturers that adopt digital platforms by 2020 to support their business, need to act. The change is hardly carried out alone but in ecosystem with other companies and partners.
At VTT, we study and develop digital platforms, cognitive methods, robotics and many other enabling technologies in manufacturing context. A VTT-funded strategic project on Cognitive Factories has been started and companies are welcome to join. We also continue to define digitalization pathways for manufacturing companies in a European project Connected Factories where input from Finnish companies is gathered. Would you like to know more? Please contact us. We step forward to support the manufacturing companies in the rapid and profound change.
