Digital and Industry 4.0 are the weapons to get out of the crisis quickly

While many sectors have already closed the crisis unleashed by Covid and are looking to the future with growing confidence, themanufacturing industry continues to deal with the enormous difficulties created by the epidemic. The interruption of the supply chain (especially that of microchip) is even leading to the shutdown of factories in the most diverse sectors. However, it is precisely the manufacturing industry, especially if high tech, the one that has the greatest potential over a time horizon other than the short term.

Technologies such asartificial intelligence in fact, they are only in their infancy and their development opens up perspectives that are in many ways still unexplored. And it is precisely for this reason that the World Manufacturing Forum titled his latest paper “Back to the future: Manufacturing beyond Covid-19” (Back to the future: manufacturing beyond Covid-19).

“The current Covid-19 pandemic has had far-reaching consequences for society – the report reads – In particular the manufacturing sector, largely dependent on interconnected global supply chains, has suffered no minor repercussions. As history teaches us, however, great crises always bring with them major changes in the way things are done. It is therefore important to reflect on how the manufacturing sector is changing and to look beyond the challenges it is facing right now to seize the opportunities that exist. In other words, it is important to understand how these challenges can transform the sector and make it more resilient in the long term ”.

The study of the World Manufacturing Forum starts from the damage count. To have paid the price of the pandemic were above all the workers and specifically the women, an element that has thus expanded the so-called gender gap. It then penalized small and medium-sized enterprises, those with less broad shoulders and therefore less prepared to face an adverse and unexpected event such as Covid-19.

However, the virus has not only had negative but also positive effects. Among these is the decisive one acceleration which has imprinted ai digital services, as well as the rapid response from many companies that have put in place strategies to make theirs supply chain more resilient. The difficulties have also led the production system to favor local suppliers, favoring, among other things, the collaboration between different actors.

Even if the emergency is not over yet, the first winners are finally beginning to be seen and among these there are companies that can boast a high level of digitization. And the same goes for theindustry 4.0. “The technologies of Industry 4.0 have proved to be of great help for manufacturing companies grappling with the difficulties of the pandemic. – concludes the study by World Manufacturing Forum – In addition to helping manage complex data, technologies such as artificial intelligence can be leveraged to support corporate risk management strategies. Artificial intelligence can also make production more agile and facilitate predictive maintenance to ensure continuity of production even during crises. Other enabling technologies for Industry 4.0 such as collaborative robots and augmented / virtual reality are also of great help in maintaining production in case of stress: they allow remote monitoring and even remote execution in a factory. which integrates industrial smart working into its processes “.