MANAGE BY DATA, RECOGNIZE MEGATRENDS

For example, Industry 4.0 shapes the operation environment in both industry and production. Digital factories will receive enormous competitive benefits due to superior profitability and second-to-none capabilities for responding to ever-increasing customer needs.

Sustainable development and wellbeing are the other big influencers that have already shaped the surroundings of all of us, and this trend will continue.

Deeper data i.e., managing by data can be considered the third big change.

Industry isn’t separate from the trends of the surrounding world, so global trends also affect it. Sustainable development can also be seen in various ways in industry. It is also financially feasible to avoid excessive transport of goods and labor, thus promoting sustainable development. There are a lot of trends that either directly or indirectly create large global changes. As an example, Industry 4.0 investments increase to keep businesses competitive.

Company profits can be raised through production digitalization. According to the Digital Factories 2020 research conducted by PWC, 98% of manufacturing industries expect digitalization to achieve up to 12% growth in efficiency and productivity. A profitable business employs and keeps its production closer to its customers and shortens supply chains. Customer demands for fast delivery and a wide selection create many kinds of pressures for the supply chain. Speed isn’t the only thing that is measured today, as the welfare of people has become a significant factor in the competition for talent. By only looking at one factor, you may suboptimize your operation and in the process weaken another factor. A more general analysis of the operation and the understanding of interaction helps companies maintain a more balanced operation. The environment, a thriving staff and profitability are not mutually exclusive. A fast, flexible, loss-minimizing company that takes people into account – doesn’t that sound good?

Environment

• The appreciation of people increases. People demand good management and clear feedback
• People become more mobile between companies and the competition for talent gets tougher
• International competition gets tougher and talent is fought for
• Ecology becomes a factor in competition and must also be taken into account in manufacturing

Customers

• Order and delivery times become shorter and demands get tougher
• Selections broaden, product lifespans shorten, products are easily damaged and batch sizes decrease
• Products have a fast turnover rate
• Quality demands by customers and competition increase

Production chain

• Production becomes more complicated along with the products
• Logistics has long been viewed as an expense, now it is seen as an added value and competitive element
• Material automation becomes cheaper, accessibility and flexibility increase
• Production is digitalized towards the Industry 4.0 vision (e.g. transparency and IoT)
• The significance of daily management increases – understanding and managing holistically (Industry 4.0)

Digitalization, robotics and automation challenge the business models of logistics more than ever before, but also create possibilities for both transport and warehousing.