Technological Innovation Essential to U.S. Manufacturing Growth
It’s no surprise that PwC’s 2016 Industrial Manufacturing Trends report finds that investments in technology are “essential” for the growth of the U.S. manufacturing sector.
Q2 2016
Innovation is building a “data-driven factory of the future with robotics, augmented reality, 3D printing, Internet of Things, and other technologies, creating an environment of higher productivity and reduced costs,” the report notes. Additionally, many of the technological innovations used in manufacturing today will be commonplace within the next 5 to 10 years, meaning that manufacturing executives “must lead with an eye toward that reality, and not merely the current bottom line.”
According to Nitin Rakesh, CEO and president of leading digital modernization firm Syntel, the digital age has disrupted many different aspects of manufacturing: “From research and development to marketing and sales, businesses cannot afford to put production on hold in order to modernize, but must transform their manufacturing processes in order to thrive in an increasingly competitive environment.” Rakesh continues, “Financial pressures in the manufacturing sector are prompting organizations to re-assess how they use technology in their manufacturing operations, to determine how they can best modernize their systems in order to maintain a competitive edge.”
The authors of PwC’s report — Robert Bono and Stephen Pillsbury — further note that although the emerging technologies are potentially transformative, they are unfolding against a backdrop of uncertainty among industrial manufacturing companies. Of the U.S.-based industrial-manufacturing executives responding to PwC’s Q1/2016 Manufacturing Barometer, only 24 percent expressed optimism about the global economy.
Project Announcements
LEGO Group Plans Chesterfield County, Virginia, Manufacturing Plant
06/17/2022
Scotland-Based PowerPhotonic Plans Sahuarita, Arizona, U.S. Headquarters-Production Campus
04/04/2022
A. Duie Pyle Plans Manassas-Richmond-Roanoke, Virginia, Cross Dock Service Centers
03/15/2022
Black Buffalo 3D Corporation Relocates-Plans Smithfield Township, Pennsylvania, Manufacturing Complex
02/07/2022
Cooperative Response Establishes Kirksville, Missouri, Operations Center
02/03/2022
Austria-Based Kostwein Plans Greenville, South Carolina, Manufacturing Facility
01/21/2022
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