Gartner's report on Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2022 included 12 trends that are expected to deliver growth, digitalization and efficiency. Among them are hyperautomation, decision intelligence, and automatic systems; as well as other AI applications or AI integrated technologies. As businesses face more uncertainties, the new technologies they adopt must be able to improve efficiency as well as performance metrics even further. Trends such as industry 4.0 might be able to help mitigate the uncertainties, but it is important to remember that it is a heavy undertaking that not all businesses are ready to consider that they might need to take stock of their current situation and future goals.

Digital transformation can be a challenging endeavor, even for the most digital-ready businesses. However for some industries digital transformation can be a massive and expensive undertaking as more aspects need to be digitized at the same time their physical assets need to be upgraded. As such, businesses might first need to ask how prepared they are for their planned digital transformation? To help readers find a lead or potential partners, this edition of InnoVEX Editorial will focus on exhibitors in enterprise software that aims to provide digital transformation resources for manufacturers.

Digital Ready as Base of Transformation

Digital transformation can be a competitive advantage in the right organization, but there are times when the executions are done in a sub-optimal way. As a result, the digital transformation efforts would be ineffective if not a complete waste. Companies may choose to pursue digital transformation as part of their core strategy for industry 4.0 as new technologies, including Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and analytics, and AI and machine learning are integral components of it. However, business readiness and required resources might not be 100% clear, even for the businesses themselves which is why they might need to reassess their approach and ongoing strategies.

The solution offered by Blockchaineum for digital transformation is Industry 4.0 Maturity Assessment, a survey-based online self-assessment for manufacturing companies. The tool offered will serve as a compass for businesses to get a quick yet comprehensive analytics on organizational readiness to support its realignment and strategic decisions on timing and key technologies. While this sounds like a simple tool, it offers important insights that businesses may have missed in assessing gaps in digital technology and organizational skills to become a genuine I4.0 company. In addition, it will also provide businesses with a practical Guide for Action to build their digital transformation or industry 4.0 Strategy.

Preemptive & Prescriptive Repairs for Downtime Prevention

As mentioned before, efficiency improvement has become almost a basic requirement for businesses looking to upgrade their operations. However, outages or downtimes in manufacturing are expected and unavoidable. While planned and scheduled downtime are necessary for multiple reasons, unplanned downtime must be avoided or prevented whenever possible. According to Atlassian that expanded on a 2014 report from Gartner, the average cost of downtime is about USD 5,600 per minute or USD 336,000 per hour; but depending on the industry and scale of the business, the cost might go upwards of USD 5 million per hour. Planned and scheduled downtime might be moved to periods of low or non-activity such as during night time to make sure the regular operations are not disturbed, but unplanned downtime cannot be predicted nor scheduled and often happens at the most inopportune times.

Among DUGAA's solutions is the RMAONE that combines big data, IoT, and machine learning that can be used for a company’s entire global RMA process; including submission, analysis, quotation, repair, payment, shipment to archive. The software is aware of every product, every repair history, every warranty rule to the sub-component level. The information is available based on users’ access control level and will notify the correct staff members at the right time to help them make the correct decision. This can be used by their clients to track their machines' status and schedule future repairs or maintenance processes to prevent unplanned downtime which can be very costly for businesses.

Conclusion

Many organizations that aim to achieve digital transformation or industry 4.0 may have some shortfalls or gaps they are not aware of. Reassessing their readiness and how far they are from their goals will be important to make sure they do not undergo unnecessary steps or make mistakes in their transition. Regardless of the method, the intent for digital transformation should be clear and achievable. With efficiency improvement as one of the key basic goals, businesses will have to aim for more preventive maintenance rather than corrective or restorative maintenance that will take up more time and resources. Understanding processes and machines will be the key to achieve this step. Using the proper toolsets and solutions, it will be possible for businesses to eliminate unnecessary or unexpected downtime.

Learn more about Blockchaineum, DUGAA, and more InnoVEX ONLINE exhibitors here.

Look forward to more updates from InnoVEX
Operating for the whole year, the InnoVEX ONLINE platform is active 24/7 and visitors can check out the exhibitors at any time and even contact them directly through the PinChat function built into the platform. There will also be news from InnoVEX regularly that will be published and sent via the weekly InnoVEX Tech Startup News digital newsletter. The content will also include highlighted exhibitors, pavilions, and other features of InnoVEX ONLINE 2021. Subscribe to the InnoVEX Tech Startup News here and never miss an update from InnoVEX.

InnoVEX 2022 is now open for Registration
In addition to the online platform, the 2022 InnoVEX onsite exhibition will take place in Taipei, Taiwan from May 24-27,2022. Online registration for both the hybrid exhibition or the InnoVEX ONLINE platform have started for global exhibitors. For more info or registration details, please click here.