Disruptive Technologies: The Risks and Rewards

What are Disruptive Technologies?

Disruptive technologies, including robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), additive manufacturing, blockchains, and business analytics are changing the manufacturing landscape for businesses everywhere.  These disruptive technologies are helping to automate day-to-day activities, boosting workforce productivity and quality by helping executives monitor operations and respond to operational problems, and improving collaboration between suppliers and customers.

Who is Vulnerable?

While all these changes are bringing about positive outcomes, changing too much too quickly can open the doors to risks that can cause businesses to become vulnerable. According to the MPI group, vulnerability is defined as “exposure that results in negative outcomes” such as: revenue or product loss, business failures, etc. This group conducted a study, MPI Disruptive Technologies in Manufacturing Study, that showed “88% of manufacturing executives believe that their industries and markets are vulnerable to disruptive technologies (29%“extremely vulnerable” and 59% “somewhat vulnerable”)”. This study examined disruptive technologies at more than 400 manufacturers in 24 different countries and 19 product sectors. Also according to the study, the highest market vulnerability is in Europe at 39%“extremely vulnerable”, followed by Asia at 33%, North America at 19%, and Latin/South America at 18%. No one is exempt from this vulnerability, as executives at marketing industry leaders are also concerned in leveraging these new technologies and the impact of disruptive technologies.

Who is Implementing Disruptive Technologies? What are They Implementing?

Manufacturers all over are implementing disruptive technologies aggressively because of the benefits that these technologies offer, despite any risks. The top manufacturing companies are implementing these disruptive technologies:

• Production Automation (78%)
• Smart Devices/Embedded Machine Intelligence/IoT Sensors (74%)
• Machine Learning (73%)
• Embedded/In-Process Metrology (70%)
• Robotics (68%)

The top enterprise technologies that are being implemented:

• Enterprise Resource Planning ERP (78%)
• Cloud Technology SaaS(77%)
• Customer Relationship Management CRM (77%)
• Analytics (77%)
• E-Commerce (75%)

Biggest Challenges:

Some of the biggest challenges that companies faced when implementing these new manufacturing and enterprise technologies included: cost of these technologies, having confidence in these new technologies, the availability, reliability, workers to operate the new technology, lack of understanding of use/application, maintenance, acceptance from management, safety issues, and the interoperability of these new technologies with legacy equipment and processes. Many of these challenges can be avoided with advance planning and the assistance of a good partner.

 Better Technologies _→ Better Outcomes:

The MPI group conducted another study that showed that “manufacturers pursuing disruptive- technology best practices – i.e, industry leaders – are more likely to achieve better outcomes”. How are these companies achieving success and better outcomes for their businesses? Well, it all starts with a strategy. Companies who use a strategic approach when implementing these technologies have better success. Another way to succeed is to invest in the employees who will be utilizing these new technologies. Companies who invest more in their employees, such as education, showed greater success with the implementation of new technologies. Make sure you are also investing in your Information Technology (IT) team as you will most likely be relying on their knowledge and skills when it comes to this technology. They will most likely be the ones who will evaluate and utilize most of these new manufacturing and enterprise technologies as well as be the first line of defense whenever issues arise.

Invest Today for a Better Tomorrow:

According to the MPI group, “a full 50% of manufacturers budgeted more than 10 percent of sales in 2018 for new manufacturing technologies and 41% budgeted more than 10% of sales for new enterprise technologies”. While this may seem like a huge investment, the return income is far more, and these technologies soon pay for themselves. The investment is more than worth the price tag. Apprehension is understandable with these new technologies as change is occurring so rapidly. However, adoption of these new disruptive technologies is leading companies to have better performances, better productivity, and better profitability.

The following infographic from The MPI Group illustrates this with current statistics.

The time is now. Let Godlan and Prophecy IoT help you gain the competitive edge. Visit www.godlan.com and  www.prophecyiot.com for further information, or contact us at 586.464.4400 to speak with us about beginning the process today.