Although resistance to change continues to hold many organisations back from digitisation, most of them see automation as a great ally for cost savings.
The pandemic has put the manufacturing industry to the test and this is demonstrated by the IV Estudio Smart Industry. In fact, according to the report prepared by the Observatorio de la Industria 4.0 and NTT Data, 80% of companies say that the situation caused by the coronavirus has helped to accelerate their digital transformation in the area of Information Technology (IT).
In particular, the main challenges faced by industrial companies were: adapting operations to the new environment (31%), people management (26%), planning for unstable demand (26%), and security and occupational risks (18%).
To overcome these challenges, industrial companies have resorted to various solutions, including automation, with the aim of saving costs, and the use of systems and operational excellence to monitor the performance of all plant equipment (OEE), identify materials throughout the production process, and/or manage maintenance.
In this sense, according to the study, the companies surveyed plan to focus their investment in the short term in the areas of production and planning, with the aim of manufacturing more efficiently without errors and at the best price.
What is holding back digital transformation?
Another of the report’s findings relates to the importance of having a digital transformation plan in place. 71% of the companies surveyed have such a strategy in place and are already achieving results, compared to 46% in 2019 and 26% in 2018.
Moreover, more and more organisations are on the lookout for professionals who are perfectly suited to this digital roadmap. According to the study, while knowing how to manage and exploit data is the skill most in demand by industrial companies today, the importance given to knowledge of machinery and manual jobs is losing steam.
However, there are still those who lag behind on the road to digital transformation, mainly due to resistance to innovation and change, and a lack of training in the workforce. However, forecasts for the coming years are optimistic, as Enrique Ramírez, president of the Observatorio de la Industria 4.0, hints: “Many paradigms are being broken, and that is why we reaffirm the exponential growth of digitisation in the industrial sector”.
