Use of Industrial Digital Technologies (IDTs) such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and immersive technologies (AR/VR) has long been seen as key to boosting productivity, efficiency, and global competitiveness in manufacturing. Yet, the UK has lagged behind leading nations like Germany, Japan, and the United States. This blog post explores the crucial role of enablers in this transformation and how a shift in perspective could help UK manufacturers harness the full potential of digitalisation.

In the manufacturing industry, Augmented Reality (AR) has been shown to improve workers' performance in various tasks such as training, assembly, maintenance, etc. For this reason, it is at the heart of the 4th Industrial Revolution and has the potential to revolutionise this industry. But why is AR adoption in manufacturing so low despite all these benefits? 

Higher productivity leads to economic growth. As such, it is high on both industry and the UK Government’s agenda. But what should organisations be investing in if they want to boost productivity? Although it may be tempting to think that investing in physical capital will boost productivity, the Organisation for National Statistics (ONS) industry data shows that investing in intangibles such as employee training, R&D and software, can deliver real impact.

Skill shortages harm the productivity and economic growth of countries as organisations do not have the appropriate workforce to exploit new technologies or processes. Despite the identification of these gaps, job-related training in low and middle-level skills has seen a unique decline in England compared to other advanced economies. What is behind this trend?

The suggestion that Industry 4.0 should be people-led invites the question of why this might matter and how it might contrast with prior practice. A quick look back can begin to frame answers to these questions.

Within the Automotive sector, addressing challenges like self-driving cars, net zero emissions, sustainable production, and the innovative software-defined vehicle will require greater reliance on digital technology. But how can we ensure these tools are both effective and adopted? Our research suggests that the key lies in the thoughtful development of use-cases.

No one wants to do work which is undignified, but the digitalisation process and its aftermath could pose a threat to the dignity of workers. Any decent employer is concerned about the dignity of their employees, and will want to take steps to ensure that dignity for all is safeguarded. But what is dignity? And precisely how can it be maintained during and after digitalisation?

British businesses are struggling to implement the latest technologies and processes necessary for smart manufacturing due to a lack of appropriately skilled workers. The 2022 British Chambers of Commerce survey of 5600 firms, found that while around 66% of firms wanted to hire people, 80% said finding skilled and unskilled workers was difficult. This skills shortage undermines the ability of businesses to adopt new technologies and processes, threatening the UK’s opportunity to unlock the potential innovation and growth benefits offered by industry 4.0.

Although often used synonymously, the terms digitisation, digitalisation and digital transformation can be understood differently. When undertaking digital change initiatives, you need to be mindful of the language you use or risk creating confusion and misunderstanding.

"Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted." This quote is attributed to Albert Einstein and captures the challenge of measuring the success of digitalisation projects. Fundamentally, what you measure, or conversely don’t measure, may change whether the project is considered a success or not.

Over the past few years digital twins have been a very popular subject within academic writing – indeed in 2022 there were over 3.5 thousand journal papers published using this term. Although the concept and definition of digital twin are still evolving, they are increasingly being deployed in industry. With this in mind, academia is starting to turn its attention to the next level of digital twin design – one which recognises how the human works with the technology.

Digital technologies offer opportunities for companies to transform their business models and improve their business processes in ways that put their customers at the centre of their operations. However, many companies struggle to realise the full value from the adoption of digital technologies because they fail to fully consider essential elements of the change process.  This article describes the four essential pillars of digital transformation which every business organisation must consider if it desires to achieve clarity and the success of its digital transformation initiatives.

In the current context of climate change and social tensions is Industry 4.0, with its focus on profit and growth, fit for purpose?  An alternative vision proposed by the EU looks to set Industry 4.0 in a broader context where technology is to be capitalised on and human-centricity, sustainability and resilience become the driving force. They call this Industry 5.0.