Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2023.  Read them in this 15th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

A Peek into Manufacturing Trends for 2023

By Doug Lawson, CEO of ThinkIQ

An increasingly volatile global economy is putting pressure on manufacturing leadership teams to improve the traceability, efficiency, and resilience of their operations. As this pressure grows, manufacturers will look to various technological innovations to weather the storm. Below are our predictions for manufacturing trends we expect to see in 2023.

Predictive Maintenance for IoT Devices

Many manufacturers are embracing IoT products within their operations. With more devices on the shop floor, managers will need to be proactive when technical issues occur to ensure business operations are not disrupted. Service providers are quickly realizing the benefits of subscription service models using products and machines that have built in sensors to track the lifespan of the device and conduct repairs and maintenance when necessary. This allows the shop floor manager to shift their focus on optimizing efficiency of the supply chains. IoT predictive maintenance will enable manufacturers to make informed, strategic decisions using real-time data and to achieve a wide variety of goals, including cost reduction, enhanced efficiency, improved safety, product innovation, and more. We expect to see the IoT revolution continue to accelerate into the new year and beyond as its benefits become apparent.

Data Used as a Currency

With the expansion of IoT and advancement in connectivity technologies, big data is offering an opportunity for a new breed of intelligent manufacturing technology. Big data is helping the industry attain full automation of operations.

Statista predicts that the big data business world is going to be worth $77 billion by 2023. Big data is becoming the new currency in manufacturing with renewed interest in IoT and the ability to collect comprehensive data from IoT devices equipped with sensors on the shop floor. This valuable data provides them with a comprehensive understanding of their business - an absolute essential as they work to reevaluate their forecasting and planning models. After all, with the proliferation of devices on the shop floor, manufacturers have even more data to sift through. 

Sustainability in the Supply Chain

Manufacturers will look to increase traceability across operations for improved sustainability, productivity, and transparency in their supply chains. By increasing sustainability in the supply chain, manufacturers can be a part of the drive towards a greener future, while reducing waste and operational costs.

While many manufacturers are still effectively blind to a staggering percentage of events on the factory floor and in their supply chains, we expect that the increase of black swan events and economic disruption will finally force them to increase their focus on improving traceability to meet their sustainability goals and weather the economic storm. As a result, ESG will become more fully integrated and measured by business systems.

Outsmarting Safety Hazards

Workplace safety took on a new significance during the pandemic. In addition to basic safety precautions, such as enforcing social distancing measures on the production floor and ensuring that workers sanitize their workspace, manufacturers must closely and carefully monitor who enters and exits their facilities, and which individuals or equipment they interact with. Although this has always been a priority for manufacturers, it will become more significant as many manufacturers look to in-source facility maintenance and management. We expect to see an increased emphasis on traceability and vision technology to operationalize this information.

We predict that this trend will have a direct effect on supply chain visibility, as manufacturers demand greater transparency from suppliers as they work to track issues and claims throughout the manufacturing process.

Transfer of Business Knowledge to New Talent

A joint report by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute estimates that 2.7 million jobs will be lost over the next few years due to attrition and retirements. Given this backdrop of economic uncertainty, organizations have been forced to adapt. Many veterans that have learned valuable hands-on skills over the years and become the lifeblood of the shop floor are beginning to retire, resulting in quick turnover and new talent. This presents the challenge of how organizations will efficiently transfer tribal knowledge from the retired veterans to new, younger, and differently skilled employees. As the supply of qualified employees remains low, the demand for formalizing this business knowledge into business systems will rise. Organizations will require solutions to institutionalize knowledge in a way that is optimized in a business process. Smart manufacturing software is urgently required that facilitates data on demand and integrates end-to-end digital operations.

Looking Ahead

To sum it up, manufacturing leaders should not shy away from new technologies to achieve a more efficient and successful operation. Managers will look to increase traceability, sustainability, and formalization of business processes to stay afloat in the economy in the coming year. Organizations that are slow to digitalize their operations and leverage new traceability technology will get left behind.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Doug Lawson, CEO of ThinkIQ, has founded, built and sold multiple software startups in the Industrial Sector. His understanding of customer challenges and his leadership creating innovative products to meet those challenges is widely respected in the Industry.

The products from his startups are used in nearly a million plants globally. On a personal level, ThinkIQ is the logical culmination of his career and he is intentionally creating a company that will have global impact, delivering enormous value to its customers, creating safer, better and trustable products with less environmental impact.