The Manufacturer's Guide to B2B Commerce

whitePaper | October 23, 2021

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will increase the level of intelligence in the manufacturing industry by promoting, inter alia, the matching of production and demand, improving quality inspection, increasing product yield, reducing product failure rates, and improving production efficiency.1 While the last decade of Industry 4.0 was determined by technology-driven innovation, the coming years will focus on data- and intelligence-driven innovation. In this perspective, AI is an enabler for the transition from smart factories towards intelligent factories with self-optimising and self-healing characteristics. While smart factories are capable of applying previously acquired knowledge, intelligent factories will be able to autonomously acquire new knowledge and apply it for self-optimisation purposes.

whitePaper | March 2, 2020

Discrete manufacturers in Great Britain and around the world have undergone huge transformation in this fourth Industrial Revolution – for a number of reasons. A combination of factors that include economic and market uncertainty, changing customer expectations around technology and a fast-moving green agenda are putting pressure on businesses to hone their supply chains and explore more sustainable and digital business models.

whitePaper | March 23, 2023

The fourth industrial revolution is transforming the manufacturing industry as we speak. Industry 4.0 is digitally driven, and like all other revolutions, the transformation did not happen overnight. Since the first personal computer on a factory floor in 1970s, computer-aided design has developed and matured exponentially. Strategically eective evolutionary steps has resulted in productivity and eciency gains in manufacturing. We live in the Industry 4.0 era, characterized by the digitization of manufacturing processes. Inevitably, today, information plays a significant role for an enterprise transformation. Data on how the product’s design and manufacturing information is authored, exchanged, and processed is critical to competitiveness. Information ‘silos’ for various life cycle processes are gradually connected to form a digital thread of information, envisioned to integrate and drive modern product design, manufacturing, and product support service processes.

whitePaper | February 10, 2022

The Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI) comprises a suite of frameworks and tools to help manufacturers – regardless of size or industry – start, scale and sustain their digital transformation journeys. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the reshaping of production value chains globally are spurring the manufacturing community to embrace digitalization with greater focus and urgency, motivated not only by potential gains in efficiency, but also by operational resilience. This renewed drive is further powered by the ongoing data revolution, where decision-makers increasingly expect key business commitments, plans and interventions to be supported through big data

whitePaper | January 1, 2023

The manufacturing industry is entering a period of rapid reconfiguration, driven by the complex interaction of technological, geopolitical, macroeconomic, and financial factors. The long-term trends that have shaped international commerce during the post-Cold War period are changing. The engines of the era—the relatively free flow of capital across borders, the lengthy and complex global supply chains, the super-cycle of cheap credit, the stable supply of energy, and the steadily liberalizing global trade regime—have stalled or reversed course, as we enter a new period defined by very different trends, including the reappearance of high inflation and a new appreciation for credit risk.

whitePaper | November 11, 2022

The manufacturing and hi-tech industries are accustomed to economic downturns, legislative impacts, tax and tariff complexities, and supply chain concerns. During the Great Recession, the United States’ manufacturing downturn resulted in a loss of 10% of its GDP, compared with only 4% for the overall economy. With these already poignant experiences, it is not hard to believe the pace of change has picked up in the last decade.