Strengthening Smart Manufacturing
If we want smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 to be successful, we need to involve everyone in the ecosystem: large and small manufacturers, technology providers, academia, and more. As the saying goes, we are only as strong as our weakest player, and we need to raise the tide, so all boats float higher together.
Perhaps one of the biggest implications of the Third Industrial Revolution—which spanned from 1970 to 2010—for small and medium-sized manufacturers was the cost and complexity of automation and digitization. Perhaps this is the reason many digital transformation initiatives are not successful—some suggest this statistic is between 78-80%. Now that we are in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we need to minimize disruptions in the manufacturing ecosystem, which is easier said than done.
Small to medium-sized manufacturers make up roughly 90% of a large manufacturer supply chain. Everyone in the supply chain needs to be more agile, more digitized, and have a more modern approach to value creation if we want to move forward into the Fourth Industrial Revolution. If we don’t engage in this together, we are going to see that digital-divide gap grow larger. And when disruptions occur—like pandemics, natural disasters, and more—then the fractured supply chain will crack even further, impacting nearly everyone in the process.
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This is precisely what CESMII and SME aim to do together. The two organizations are aligning their strengths and resources to benefit the ecosystem. Combining their expertise, the two organizations aim to communicate the value of smart manufacturing as well as demonstrate technology solutions for everyone in the ecosystem.
John Dyck, CEO, CESMII, and Bob Willig, executive director and CEO, SME, recently joined me on The Peggy Smedley Show to talk about why they are working together to create a more effective way of bringing insight, innovation, and workforce development to the manufacturing industry. Specifically, they express the opportunities that exist to help small to mid-sized manufacturers, which is desperately needed today.