CLOUD EDGE
“ A lot of the companies that I know in the US were already on this pathway of smart factories and they were very well prepared ,” explains Sloss . “ They did well . But , if you look at the report iBASEt did , about 67 % of manufacturers only implemented Industry 4.0 and smart factory technologies in response to the pandemic , due to things like social distancing . One third of them were doing this for the first time .”
“ I ' ve noticed one face-to-face meeting equals about three video meetings – because , face-to-face , nobody ' s doing their emails ”
EVAN SLOSS IBASET ’ S EMEA DIRECTOR
From conversations with manufacturing executives about the data collected , Sloss determined that the pandemic created other benefits across the sector .
“ Companies could use their data to actually improve their processes going forward . Manufacturers looked at their processes and thought : ‘ Why are we doing this ? We ' re doing it because we always did it . Actually , we can improve what we ' re doing with this great technology here and we can take some steps .”
Now , manufacturers are effectively prepared should another pandemic erupt – or even a particularly virulent flu season – because one of the biggest headaches manufacturers have is people not being able to work .
44 October 2022