The next decade will be wrought with technological change across the manufacturing industry.
How painful or pleasurable that is depends on what you decide to invest time and energy on today.
by John Hitch | Feb 28, 2019 for Industry Week
No manufacturer wants to look at 2020 in hindsight full of regret about what could have been done differently. To prepare for all the critical transformations besetting the manufacturing industry in the coming decade, which are not only poised to restructure your business, but the very nature of modern society, you have to know all the major technologies at play.
As a technology writer, I can tell you there are a heck of a lot at play. And some, but certainly not all, will work for you. Most likely, if your B.S. meter is calibrated correctly, you already have an inkling of the stinkers out there. Just as likely, you’ll be surprised at how much “futuristic” tech is presently available to reduce the headaches and improve the KPIs at your plant or shop.
I’ve spent the better part of the last year vetting the best in preparation for directing the expo portion of our own large-scale production, the Manufacturing & Technology Conference & Expo. The following aren’t all the tech trends that will define the next decade, but they’ll all be at our event, and ones I recommend you spend some time researching, and in some cases, developing pilot projects around in the next year.
MarketWatch projects the industrial wearable segment to grow from $1.5 in 2017 to 2.6 billion in 2023, a 73% jump, and that may be a conservative estimate. From field service to assembly, the most effective workers of the next decade will be wearing an array of smartglasses, biometric sensors and other devices that connect them to not only work instructions or critical data, but to each other to create the IIoP (Industrial Internet of People). For example, a Microsoft HoloLens can dial up a remote expert for a repair job and Google Glass can record assembly procedure videos and then play them back for new trainees.