*NEW RESEARCH* Sleeping giant manufacturing awakening

During our presentations at the recent TechMarketView Evening we highlighted the digital readiness of some of the UK’s major industry sectors, one of which was manufacturing. Despite long standing investment in (physical) robotics and simple automation, the sector is a digital laggard, running behind sectors like retail, logistics and distribution. However, there are signs this sleeping giant, which contributes just under 20% of GDP, is waking up. UK government is encouraging the digitisation of manufacturing through initiatives around the Manufacturing Made Smarter challenge and suppliers such as Accenture, Salesforce and IBM are ramping up their activities.

Manufacturers increasingly have the will to innovate and drive transformation. The pressures of a global, highly competitive and cost sensitive market are powerful motivators and suppliers are starting to step up to seize the opportunity. Industry 4.0 presents an opportunity to reassess the sector and supply-side offerings.

TechMarketView subscribers can read our thoughts on developments around the manufacturing sector in Sleeping giant manufacturing awakening, in HotViewsExtra.

Posted by Angela Eager at '09:47' - Tagged: software   manufacturing   automation   iot   machinelearning