By Andy Graham, Solutions Manager, SolutionsPT
Our increasingly volatile global landscape and revailing health, well-being, societal and economic impacts are forcing us all to reconsider how we live and interact and more importantly how we can continue to thrive as a society. With communities, industries and businesses grappling to respond to the new normal brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, the need to arm ourselves with the latest information and context and work together to plot the most effective and efficient path forward, is vital as we navigate through such an unprecedented era.
While digital transformation investment was predicted to surpass $7.1 trillion in the coming years and had been growing exponentially, current economic instability coupled with the commercial reality of a “rip and replace” approach to address ageing infrastructure necessitates a new way of thinking within the industrial arena. Particularly when we consider the pandemic’s impacts on segments such as manufacturing and the significant effects to supply chains around the world. With the sector’s importance increasingly under the spotlight, manufacturers are rapidly cross-skilling and up-skilling their workforce and adapting production capabilities in an effort to respond to the need for health and medical supplies such as hand sanitiser, ventilators and surgical masks. Their timeliness and agility in successfully adapting operations, empowering and redeploying their teams, not surprisingly playing a large role in their ongoing viability.
The Smart Manufacturing Institute cites that before the pandemic, only ‘10 percent of companies had a long-term plan to take advantage of digital technology and smart manufacturing despite 75 percent of them wanting to employ Industry 4.0-related measures’. And with a positive lens on the future, as demand begins to spike ‘those who think bigger and start putting together longer-term plans that include how they are going to ramp up, will be the ones who move ahead of the pack’.
Traditional rationale for industrial modernisation remains extremely valid, including mitigating cyber-security risks, adhering to evolving compliance measures, responding to a changing workforce demography and seamless access to emerging technologies and software upgrades. However, the speed and ease that businesses are able to access the tools and technologies they need without the conventional barriers to adoption, will prove crucial in their ability to manage supply chain fluctuations in the short term as well as their capacity to respond to anticipated resurgences in demand.
The ability to deploy a flexible, incremental approach to modernisation and overlay new technologies with existing systems without delay, is more vital than ever as we strive to help businesses reallocate cash flow, re-calibrate operations and most importantly support their people through the current climate, ensuring their viability, success and sustainability in the longer term.
From IIoT architectures to cloud-driven remote edge management, and a state-of-the-art real-time platform for superior visibility and supervisory control, our integrated Edge to Enterprise solutions help foster a more connected and efficient operation, which is essential as we help our customers traverse through the current industrial landscape and gear up for what lies ahead. AVEVA is pleased to offer a variety of flexible technical and commercial options that provide seamless access to the technologies you need, as you need them – helping you customise and deploy the modernisation journey that’s right for you today and into the future.
