Digitization in Manufacturing Continues to Boom, Siemens Research

Digitalization in the manufacturing industry continues to boom as companies increasingly turn to tools such as digital twin technology, data analytics and automation to optimize supply chains and improve production efficiency.

That’s according to a new report from Siemens USA and the Manufacturers Alliance Foundation, which found that 80% of the 199 industrial companies surveyed have already, or are in the process of, implementing digitization tools.

The report also found more than three-quarters (79%) of industrial companies are already rolling out digital twin technology for product planning and development, including real-time quality monitoring.

“Over the past few years U.S. manufacturers have made solid progress toward digitalizing their entire value streams, including supply chain optimization, data analytics and product development,” the team wrote. “However, the research also underlines how this progress has been slowed by corporate digital strategies that focus on fragmented one-off high-priority pilots rather than more long-term systematic approaches.”

The companies surveyed identified that the top three obstacles to digital transformation are difficulty in measuring return on investment, lack of alignment between functions and inefficient use of data and analytics.

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“Manufacturers have visions for their digital transformation roadmap, yet the vision in practice is falling short,” said Stephen Gold, Manufacturers Alliance Foundation’s president. “Judging by our findings, by taking a fragmented approach, instead of collaborating across the entire organization ecosystem, manufacturers are only inching towards the competitive advantage they hope digitalization will provide them.”

By contrast, the companies implementing more systematic approaches and combining their digitalization roadmap with a business case for moving forward, are the ones found to have made the most technological advancement. 

“By taking a collaborative approach with a long-term strategy, we’re seeing manufacturers reap the rewards of digitalization in a way not realized by individual activations,” said Del Costy, Siemens’ president. “These findings emphasize the importance of embracing an ecosystem to ensure a successful and efficient digital transformation of manufacturing.”