Future of the Technician Workforce Study

Value Drivers of i4.0 There are myriad ways that businesses can explore to take advantage of the value offered by i4.0 technologies. The following tables summarize several types of value drivers from three different perspectives:  The broad manufacturing industry  Specific manufacturing industries: machinery, automotive, and consumer electronics  The organizational level (non-sector specific)

The Broad Manufacturing Industry

Table 4: Value drivers of i4.0 for the broad manufacturing industry. vii

VALUE DRIVERS

BENEFITS / ASPECTS

More effective use of equipment and assets.

Routing flexibility; machine flexibility; remote monitoring and control; predictive maintenance; augmented reality for maintenance, repair, and operations. Increased worker speed and reduced task complexity. Human-robot collaboration; remote monitoring and control; digital performance management; automation of knowledge work. In-situ 3-D printing; real-time supply-chain optimization; batch size. Use of real-time process control and problem-solving. Statistical process control; advanced process control; digital quality management. Accelerated product design and development enabled by i4.0 technologies. Customer co-creation/open innovation; concurrent engineering; rapid experimentation and simulation. Lower service costs due to remote maintenance and repair solutions. Predictive maintenance; remote maintenance; virtually guided self-service. Optimized material consumption, speed, and/or yield. Smart energy consumption; intelligent lots; real-time yield optimization; lower material consumption. Less excess inventory enables reduced capital costs. Using insights to match to actual customer demand. Data-driven demand prediction; data-driven design to value.

Improved asset utilization

Boosts to labor productivity

Optimized inventory management

Quality enhancements

Supply/demand matching

Faster time to market

Reduction in service costs/aftersales

Resource/process improvement

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