Pacing the Industry 4.0 Manufacturing Revolution

whitePaper | March 17, 2022

Manufacturing industry professionals must corral and understand massive amounts of data from many systems to drive operational efficiencies, higher levels of service, supply chain resiliency, and ultimately a complete view of the business. Having the ability to explore the impact of and interplay among changes in production efficiency, product quality, customer demand, and service excellence isn’t possible without visibility into data and meaningful data analytics. This “big data” approach to manufacturing operations and supply chain optimization can deliver big results and is at the heart of the digital transformation initiatives of many industrial companies.

whitePaper | May 20, 2022

More than almost any other industry, the printing industry has been experiencing an uninterrupted series of trends towards digitization for decades. As a result, this change repeatedly forced established business models to be put to the test and new goals to be defined. In all process stages, from media design to print finishing, production processes have been digitized and automated to an extent that would have seemed almost inconceivable just 25 years ago. The increasing demand for variable content, ever-shorter print runs, and expedited delivery time has been driving this development further, as well as presenting print shop logistics with new tasks. Job management and Production Planning and Control (PPC) are currently being reorganized by the Internet, mobile communications and the transfer of crucial processes to the cloud.

whitePaper | October 11, 2022

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Accenture and EPRI, launched the “Transitioning Industrial Clusters towards Net Zero” global initiative at COP26 in Scotland, to accelerate the transition of industrial clusters globally towards net-zero emissions. This initiative promotes and enables industries to realize the benefits of co-location and take an integrated approach to transitioning towards net zero. Industrial clusters are where sector-specific decarbonization efforts and clean energy technology deployment efforts converge to enable a systemic approach towards industrial decarbonization

whitePaper | December 9, 2022

The manufacturing sector is no stranger to change. Over the course of three industrial revolutions, companies have relied on everything from water and steam to electricity and information technology to power their operations, provide services and make products. But the evolution taking place with Industry 4.0, which McKinsey & Company defines as “a new wave of technological changes that will trigger a paradigm shift in manufacturing,” may be the most significant change of all.

whitePaper | February 4, 2022

Digitalization is an evolving process that took roots several decades ago. The first business computers and data storage units emerged in the 1950s. In the 1960s, companies invested in databases and automated processes to make reservations and plan materials or to gain easier access to schedules/inventories, MRP was born in response to the Toyota Production Systems and Methods. In the 1970s, banking experienced its first digital advancement with the invention of ATMs, which ignited a major digitization trend

whitePaper | March 16, 2022

Today’s supply chains are driven by the competitive tenets of e-commerce – speed, accuracy and access to a broad inventory – all delivered at low cost. This mandate has driven distribution centers to become increasingly complex and dependent on automation systems, while raising the stakes to threaten critical damage in the event of cost overruns or project delays. Concentrating supplier responsibility for these automation projects with a single, lead provider simplifies vendor management and accountability, enabling companies to approach a single point of contact and avoid juggling delays and charges from multiple contractors.