Digital transformation in manufacturing is … complicated. Despite Industry 4.0 existing for decades, McKinsey reports that manufacturers still struggle to transform at scale.
A connected factory can achieve significantly better efficiency and agility, which are critical in a post-pandemic, uncertain environment. This leaves me curious about manufacturers’ digital transformation in 2024. While I don’t have all the answers, I have some insights.
My organization recently surveyed global manufacturing leaders across multiple sectors about becoming fully connected factories. Their insights, challenges and tech implementation plans are highlighted in Zebra’s new global manufacturing study titled “The Rise of the Connected Factory: Charting Manufacturing’s Digital Transformation.”
The study reports that digital transformation is a strategic priority for most manufacturers (92%). However, despite surging investments in technology solutions, it remains elusive. The path to digital transformation is not a simple straight line, but by focusing on a few key areas—enhancing visibility, augmenting labor and optimizing quality—we believe manufacturers can get there. Let’s take a look at three key steps.
Visibility: The Foundation For Transformation
Real-time visibility enables manufacturers to see, track or monitor operations as they happen. It drives efficiency, productivity and quality. Yet only 16% of manufacturers have real-time, work-in-progress (WIP) monitoring across the entire manufacturing process, according to Zebra’s study.
Imagine attempting to manually monitor hundreds of machines and workers spanning a large complex factory. Without technology, the status of equipment, raw materials and workers in the production process isn’t visible or traceable. This explains manufacturers’ pressing need for technologies enabling visibility, real-time monitoring and product tracking to drive quality and efficiency throughout operations.
Visibility is the foundation of digital transformation. It provides a real-time line of sight—and ideally an annotated data archive—so manufacturers can identify, analyze and make operational decisions. A recent National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) study reports that 44% of manufacturers say the amount of data collected has doubled over two years and anticipate it tripling by 2030. Yet, most say they have only moderate confidence in their analytics capabilities.
Manufacturers can begin to pave the way to full visibility by evaluating current pain points and identifying visibility gaps. Even in manufacturing plants where ID systems have been fully adopted, there is still an opportunity to digitize inspections, which are often painstakingly tedious, prone to human error and crucial to the manufacturing process. Machine vision systems powered by artificial intelligence (AI) handle inspections with speed and accuracy well beyond human capacity.
Manufacturers are also looking to AI to use data more effectively. Zebra’s study found 61% of manufacturers expect AI to drive growth by 2029, a 41% increase from 2024. Successful implementation involves careful planning, training and a phased approach to avoid overwhelming the workforce.
To start your digital transformation, ensure the foundation is solid with visibility solutions. They are fundamental to forging your path to transform into an agile, resilient connected factory.
Upskill Labor: Augment Workers With Technology
According to the NAM Outlook Survey, more than 65% of manufacturers report attracting and retaining quality workers remains a top challenge. A gap exists between the latest manufacturing technology and the workers equipped to use it. The World Economic Forum reported that 60% of the global workforce needs significant training to bridge this gap.
Manufacturers are augmenting workers and integrating AI and tech tools to build a workforce as skilled as the technology they use. By 2029, Zebra reports that 73% of manufacturers expect to reskill labor with data and technology to improve workflows, and 7 in 10 expect to augment workers with mobile devices and technology. Half of the manufacturers report they’re implementing tablets, mobile computers and workforce management software. More than 60% plan to leverage wearables and computer vision.
Workplace flexibility, meaningful work and a safe (secure and respected) workplace were the top reasons Gen Z cited to remain in a job according to McKinsey. Manufacturers can better attract the growing Gen Z workforce by using technology to improve the worker experience, offering ongoing development and training, and creating career advancement paths.
Increasing wages is simply not enough to attract and retain Gen Z. This generation of workers is pervasively using technology outside the work environment and is therefore comfortable adopting technology augmentation in their work.
Optimize workflows and workers to empower them to focus on high-value, customer-centric tasks and build the relationships and career paths they desire. You’ll also boost productivity and efficiency and open new opportunities to attract future talent.
Visibility + Augmentation + Automation = Quality
Quality in manufacturing can’t exist without real-time visibility and skilled workers. In Zebra’s study, leaders cite real-time visibility and timing in identifying and resolving issues, keeping up with new standards and regulations, maintaining traceability, and integrating data as their most significant quality management issues.
But what if you’re a manufacturer without the budget, bandwidth or time to invest in advanced digital transformation right now? You can still take practical steps to move forward. Start with fundamental data collection and analytic tools to lay the groundwork. Leveraging visibility solutions like barcode scanning, wearables or other basic Internet of Things (IoT) devices can help monitor machines and provide insights and improvements.
Quality is the final piece of the equation. Once you’re further down the path to transformation, implement visibility solutions and augment and upskill workers with technology to optimize quality. To drive quality even further, add advanced automation solutions. You don’t have to boil the ocean on your digital transformation journey—take it one step at a time from wherever you’re starting.
An Ongoing Journey
Most manufacturers (87%) in Zebra’s study agree it’s a challenge to pilot new technologies or move beyond the pilot phase, yet they plan to advance digital maturity by 2029. With the right technology tools and solutions in place to advance visibility, augment workers and optimize quality, they will get there.
Forbes
In the context of the Industrial Revolution, applying technology to operating mechanisms in each organization is extremely necessary, and is also an inevitable trend to minimize workload while still ensuring efficiency and enhance its competitive position in the market. Furthermore, applying management software into a business will also help build an organization with a clear system, promoting consistency, transparency and accuracy. Tasken eOffice, researched and built by Opus Solution – a business consultant in Vietnam – is an internal work management system as well as the management of automated, online, user-friendly approval processes, allowing businesses to operate more effectively on the path of digital transformation.
