The core benefit of 4IR technologies is the ability they offer manufacturers to monitor, and act upon, data flowing from connected machines, according to the latest Annual Manufacturing Report.
Kodak. Woolworths. Blockbuster. Comet. The UK business landscape is a wasteland of organisations that didn’t evolve fast enough for their end consumer.
These businesses ended up missing the mark by being too focused on business as usual.
They entirely missed the shift in demand caused by changing technology and the importance of addressing the future customer.
The Annual Manufacturing Report 2018 reflects on how smart factories are one of the key differentiators that will help future-proof your business in the here and now.
IoT (Internet of Things) sensors pour data into locally- and cloud-based computers where the data is crunched almost instantly to provide a moving, real-time picture of manufacturing processes.
This allows decision-makers, either humans or machines, to see weaknesses in the system before they become problems, or tweak systems to achieve greater efficiency.
A clear 91% of respondents get this, and encouragingly, the negative we posed, namely that boardroom resistance to investment would get in the way, was pretty much dismissed.
It is not just the information flow created by machine connectivity that is so important, it is the power that these technologies give us to design and innovate great new products that is so significant.
Given the UK’s track record in design and innovation, it is fair to say that such a wholesale embrace by our respondents of these technologies means that we are ready to exploit the edge that our national industrial creativity offers.
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