Intelligence trends throughout the manufacturing industry in 2023

2022 has seen seismic economic changes that have impacted almost every industry. We've seen shifts within the energy market and labour availability, as well as major supply chain disruptions. As a result, the growing competitiveness of the UK market has driven the intelligent industry to think very differently, to challenge the norms around manufacturing and how we orchestrate the ecosystem, from operations within factories to the way that the supply chain is managed. Within 2023, we can see the entire manufacturing industry moving towards using advanced technology to address several business challenges such as resiliency, efficiency and connectivity. Industry 4.0 has been spoken about for several years but the events of the past 12 - 24 months is perhaps the catalyst that manufacturing industry has needed.

So, what will we see within 2023 for the growing use of intelligence within the manufacturing industry? Here we have discussed the main manufacturing trends we believe that will see throughout 2023.

Internet of Things ("IoT")

The first trend is the increased use of IoT. Specifically, industrial IoT ("IIoT") will have more use cases as manufacturing plants become even more connected and intelligent. Within an IIoT system, organisations use sensors and other connected devices to collect vast amounts of real-time data. Using this information, they can stay ahead of the curve to improve efficiency across the board.

Transparent Demands

As companies' societal and sustainable impacts continue to be the topic of hot public debate, consumers are being driven to think much more carefully about what to spend their money on and where from. Faced with these rising demands, manufacturers must look to increased efficiencies as the answer, which requires investment to deliver greater efficiency through automation. Organisations will need to keep challenging themselves to take the base cost out of engineering, manufacturing, and operations from the idea stage right through to market as quickly, cheaply, and pragmatically possible.

Sustainability

Already high on the agenda, sustainability will continue to be a huge focus for manufacturers in 2023, as they look to win over more discerning consumers with their environmental progress. Indeed, automation will be a reoccurring theme, with AI and ML employed to help company databases become more intelligent i.e., proactively getting ahead of (energy and emission-heavy) machine repairs by using automation to trigger alerts to engineers based on IoT device and smart sensor data.

Digital Infrastructure

We will continue to see the massive impact of ongoing digital transformation throughout 2023. In the previous year, many companies were forced to embrace digital transformation to address pricing, supply chain and software issues. As we have seen the results from digital transformation, there's no turning back. In 2023, we will see companies push further towards Industry 4.0. Specific technologies that will lead the way will be the use of IIoT, machine learning and artificial intelligence, 3D printing and advanced predictive analytics. Each of these can have a significant impact on manufacturing business models.

Comment

Better infrastructure is needed by a growing number of businesses to ensure they can function at a truly smart level, using digital technologies to improve or create new business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing requirements. Making significant changes to a business will prove challenging but manufacturers will need to incorporate positive disruption into their delivery plans to gain competitive advantages and this is where our solicitors can assist further.

At Forbes Solicitors, we have extensive experience in helping manufacturing companies take advantage of digital transformation and can ensure any contracts already formed can be reviewed to fit in line with digital transformation or assist with the implementation of those to introduce and manage the required changes. We work with businesses to provide innovative legal solutions and our solicitors can guide you through the complex, unusual and the everyday working collaboratively to meet your goals.