Robots, artificial intelligence and manufacturing were hot in 2016. What was substance and what was just noise? Did we really move the needle on the value innovation plays in these fields?
2016: A Year of Advances and a Few Reality Checks
Making the Digital Pivot: Physical & Cognitive Automation Make it Easier
While 90 percent of US manufacturers confirm that their organizations see value in terms of productivity and efficiency in the digitization of their operations, only one in four are looking beyond the incremental improvements to greater opportunities in generating new revenue streams. This short-sightedness limits the scope of transformative strategy and reinforces the industry’s profile of slow to move, rigid and no longer the engine of economic good we all want and need it to be.
Sense + Think + Act = The Digital Supply Chain
The digital supply chain will be a supply chain that adapts. One that’s more agile and less brittle. One that’s self‐configuring and self‐optimizing. And one that’s adaptive and fault tolerant.
Mind + Machine: Changing the Business of Manufacturing
Robots are changing everything – automation, manufacturing and soon, in the Industrial Internet of Things, the business of manufacturing. Fueling the ability to sense, respond and act on changes internal and external, robots give manufacturers a faster path to harnessing opportunities.
“New” is Here to Stay: Make it Work for You
“Right” in manufacturing and supply chain is an always-evolving target. And if, through hard work, smarts and some providence, you do get it right, it won’t be long before you need to recalibrate.
Robots with Grit: Redefining Manufacturing
We’re hearing a lot about the value of grit: tenacity and perseverance in the face of challenges. Well, that where robots are headed – and with grit they’ll bring the transformation that manufacturing needs to break through to the next level.
Supply Chain 2030: Closer than You Think
2030. That is only 13 years, 4 months away. For manufacturers – and their supply chains – that time horizon is barely a blink of an eye when you think about the pace of innovation today.
It’s a Jungle Out There…The Best Advice I Ever Got
Tarzan is a great metaphor for trusting our gut instinct. That’s what allowed him to trust his choices, accept the risk that it might not all go as hoped and to trade the safety of what he knew and go for it anyway.
Robots on a Mission: Agents of Change in Manufacturing
100 years after the introduction of the automated assembly line, it’s time for a change. And robots are poised to be the agents of change that’s needed. The powerful combination of mind and machine will fuel new ways for manufacturers to do more – and do it all better.
James Lawton 