Industry of The Future
Shenzen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware
Shenzhen has risen to become the predominant epicenter of high-tech design and manufacturing in the world. Variously called the “world’s factory,” “the new Silicon Valley,” and the “maker’s dream city,” Shenzhen has a complete ecosystem that contains everything needed for all stages of electronics production all in one place. This has turned the city into a staging ground for large high-tech companies, rising startups, and independent innovators from all over the world looking to get their stuff made as efficiently as possible. Tech giants like Huawei, ZTE , and Tencent all got their starts here, and many more companies seem to be on the way up.
Disruptive Technologies
The relentless parade of new technologies is unfolding on many fronts. Almost every advance is billed as a breakthrough and the list of “next big things” grows ever longer. Not every emerging technology will alter the business or social landscape—but some truly do have the potential to disrupt the status quo, alter the way people live and work, and rearrange value pools. It is therefore critical that business and policy leaders understand which technologies will matter to them and prepare accordingly.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing Revolution
Economic growth has been slowing for the past 50 years, but relief might come from an unexpected place—a new form of manufacturing that is neither what you thought it was, nor where you thought it was. Industrial systems thinker Olivier Scalabre details how a fourth manufacturing revolution will produce a macroeconomic shift and boost employment, productivity and growth.
Industry 4.0
Putting the client first, Industry 4.0 guarantees better products, more efficient production methods and bespoke industrial services. The comprehensive interconnection of processes in production, logistics and services is a huge issue at practically every large manufacturer in Europe. In the US and Asia, too, it is the definitive changing force of the era. Cyber-physical systems might form the basis of the next industrial revolution.
Its influence is trickling down through every sector of industry and the wider economy. Industry 4. is already changing the landscape of competition with far-reaching consequences for the workforce and infrastructure as a whole. In a nutshell, Industry 4.0 is nothing more than a fully integrated, value creation system – with huge impact on Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) for both industry and nation states.
Smart Manufacturing
A bullet train is leaving the station, and it promises to transform and propel U.S. manufacturers who climb on board—in a wave of information technology known as smart manufacturing.
The big names are not just aboard, they’re driving the train: IBM announced in March it will spend $3 billion in the next four years to create an “Internet of Things” unit and develop software to help customers do the same, taking advantage of a paradigm of embedded, intra-machine connectivity, enabling machines (including everyday appliances) to communicate with one another and to adjust, without human assistance, to changing conditions.
Automation
The Hidden World of Box Packing
We make millions of online purchases daily, but who (or what) actually puts our items into packages? In this talk, Mick Mountz weaves a fascinating, surprisingly robot-filled tale of what happens inside a warehouse.
What the Future of Work Will Mean for Jobs, Skills, and Wages
The technology-driven world in which we live is a world filled with promise but also challenges. Cars that drive themselves, machines that read X-rays, and algorithms that respond to customer service inquiries are all manifestations of powerful new forms of automation. Yet even as these technologies increase productivity and improve our lives, their use will substitute for some work activities humans currently perform—a development that has sparked much public concern.
Automobiles
Disruptive Trends That Will Transform the Auto Industry
Technology-driven trends will revolutionize how industry players respond to changing consumer behavior, develop partnerships, and drive transformational change.
Today’s economies are dramatically changing, triggered by development in emerging markets, the accelerated rise of new technologies, sustainability policies, and changing consumer preferences around ownership. Digitization, increasing automation, and new business models have revolutionized other industries and automotive will be no exception. These forces are giving rise to four disruptive technology-driven trends in the automotive sector: diverse mobility, autonomous driving, electrification, and connectivity.
Automotive Disruption Radar
Since the invention of the first automobile, the automotive industry has followed a linear path of development. However, in the last two years we have witnessed the parallel emergence of four “mega-trends”: mobility, automated driving, digital experience, and electrification. These trends are poised to completely reshape the automotive industry over the next 10-15 years.
Despite rising uncertainty, executives have to decide on long-term capital allocation. To do this, ongoing monitoring and analysis of market dynamics is required. Analysts have developed an Automotive Disruption Radar where they are systematically tracking 25 early indicators of disruption, which are happening in each of the most important markets of the world. The Automotive Disruption Radar provides the necessary guidance to navigate the complexity facing the automotive industry.
