Building smart factory 2.0

The strategic importance of smart factories is undeniable, as early adopters have reported operating more efficiently and driving more to the bottom line. In the United States alone, 86 percent of manufacturers believe that smart factories will be the main driver of competition by 2025. Furthermore, 83 percent believe that smart factories will transform the way products are made.1 Research consistently reveals improvement in cost, throughput, quality, safety, and revenue growth through the deployment of smart factory technologies that combine capabilities in industrial internet of things (IIoT), cloud and edge computing, robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, vision systems, and augmented and virtual reality systems, among others.2 Leaders have a broad range of choices and opportunities with respect to smart factory transformations, both in terms of which technologies to use, and how to deploy them. Despite all of this, however, many are still only just getting started.