Digital Transformation Potential in Industry
Arguably, Industrial Transformation is where Digital Transformation started. Industrie 4.0 and similar initiatives around the world highlighted the potential of new technologies such as IoT and AI when deployed to support manufacturing industries.
Industrial Transformation is, however, very much still a work in progress. Countless legacy assets installed into industrial locations stretching back over decades afford significant potential for digitally transformative solutions. Meanwhile Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and other robotics and automated systems are transforming production processes and intralogistics. In parallel, IoT and AI in particular are extending digitally transformed and value-added servitised propositions right to end-user locations.
Seven key domains of change in Industrial Transformation
Overall, we have identified nine key domains of change in the Industrial Transformation sector that are enabled by digital transformation, as illustrated below.
These domains of change are discussed in more detail in our report Digital Transformation in the Manufacturing Sector:
The domains of change discussed in the report comprise:
Intralogistics Optimisation encompasses multiple dimensions including inventory and warehouse management, transportation optimisation, workflow optimisation, asset tracking and monitoring and autonomous vehicles.
X-as-a-Service (vendor and end-user perspectives) considering the provision of assets that have traditionally been sold in return for a single upfront fee instead being offered as a service in return for an ongoing revenue stream.
Worker Assistance including ‘cobot’ assistance devices that help workers to be more productive by undertaking some of their tasks such as pre-positioning components or delivering parts to the workstation
Quality Control and Assurance to ensure product properties are consistent and up-to-par, equipment recalibration and the optimisation of production lines is constantly performed as process drifts and other changes in the production line occur.
Additive Manufacturing, or 3D printing, a technique for ‘printing’ objects by depositing incremental layers of material.
Brownfield Machine Monitoring including the gathering of better information and improved analyses applied to available information.
Environment Monitoring including the monitoring of production environments to help make sure that the environment in the manufacturing premises is free from pollutants and safe for workers.
Collectively, the activities listed above will bring significant changes to the Industry.
IoT and Industrial Transformation
IoT is one of the key technology groups impacting Industrial Transformation and further detail and analysis of key IoT applications for industry can be found in Transforma Insight’s Forecast Insight Reports. Some of these applications are directly relevant to the sector, whilst others are only indirectly related.
Directly related IoT applications and Forecast Insight Reports include:
-
Remote Diagnostics & Maintenance
– Remote monitoring of equipment to spot faults and predict requirements for maintenance. Particularly focused on factory machinery, healthcare devices and vertical transportation (elevators and escalators).
-
Precision Specialist Robots
– This Application Group comprises machinery focused on a diverse range of specific tasks including remote surgery and automated manufacturing robots. These will all operate at the highest levels of autonomy, without requirement for human intervention.
-
Remote Process Control
– Remote monitoring of equipment to manage the device in the context of a wider business process and to integrate machine data. Focused on industrial and agricultural processes. Includes factory automation, airport automation systems and baggage handling, and automated port systems. Excludes warehousing. Also part of this Application Group is crop irrigation, including connections to, and control systems for, systems that are deployed in the open air and also in closed environments such as greenhouses.
-
Unmanned Non-Road Vehicles
– The Unmanned Non-Road Vehicles Application Group represents autonomous wheeled and tracked vehicles used for transporting materials, performing specific tasks or other similar activity in verticals such as agriculture, construction, mining, manufacturing, baggage handling, warehousing, space exploration or emergency response. The types of vehicles covered in this Application Group include forklifts, bomb-disposal vehicles, portside automated vehicles, straddle carriers and other specialised vehicles. Although these vehicles will not be intended for on-road use, they may be capable of travelling on public highways.
Indirectly related IoT applications and Forecast Insight Reports include:
-
Personal Assistance Robots
– This Application Group covers fully autonomous machines which undertake a diverse set of use cases including security monitoring, maintenance, human interaction, companionship and the performance of other tasks. This includes robotic pets, cleaning robots (e.g. Roomba), lawn mowers, exoskeletons, cooking robots, room and table delivery, and concierge services.
-
Real World 'Visualisation'
– Includes the use of Human Machine Interface (HMI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR) devices such as smart connected glasses, such as Microsoft’s Hololens, or Google Glass, used in either a consumer or enterprise context; standard and ruggedised tablets that can be used to access information about machinery and processes (and more); and large scale video walls, either in the context of control rooms, or to support immersive experiences. To be included in this forecast a device must be standalone, and not attached to a specific machine. Devices must also support some level of enhanced human interaction with machines (and other information, or content) rather than simply existing to relay information from a device or accept commands. Beyond this scope lie innumerable generic tablets, laptops, mobile phones, and other computing devices that can also support some aspects of HMI by simple installation of an application (or access to suitable web pages).
-
Real Time Location Systems
– Trackers attached to pieces of equipment for the purpose of locating them, typically with very great accuracy. Used within specific delimited areas (e.g. hospitals, building sites or factories), with dedicated infrastructure to support them.
-
Unmanned Aquatic & Aerial Vehicles (Drones)
– This Application Group consists of two main categories. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles comprises fixed wing and propellor powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for military, government consumer or commercial use. Unmanned Aquatic Vehicles comprise small underwater and surface vehicles, typically for military use or exploration. Neither vehicle is designed to carry humans; automation of vehicles that carry humans (e.g. full sized planes or ships in automation mode) is covered under autonomous vehicles.
Other content and related analysis
Besides the detailed sector-focussed content described above, Transforma Insights offers an extensive range of thematic- and vendor-focussed research that will prove invaluable to any end-user seeking to leverage new and emerging digitally transformative technologies.
Of particular note are our Vendor Insight and CSP Peer Benchmarking reports, which provide detailed profiles of leading vendors who might be able to support a range of end-user digital transformation projects.
Our Key Topic Insight reports focus on the qualitative aspects of Digital Transformation, including investigation of interesting or noteworthy topics.
Detailed analysis of regulations that might apply to digitally transformative projects around the world can be found in our Regulatory Database. Meanwhile, our Case Study Database contains more than 1,000 case studies of technology implementations. Each case study contains detailed information on the specifics of the deployment. Used in aggregate it can provide unrivalled guidance on project prioritisation, best practice and vendor selection.
