“For competitive advantage, manufacturers should invest in maturing technologies at scale to increase productivity, improve the human experience and make a positive contribution to climate change,” says Prasad Satyavolu. “Therefore, we will see manufacturers investing in new business models that enable them to innovate, transform and respond to change quickly.”

Excerpts from Manufacturing Global’s article reproduced with permission:

“Prasad Satyavolu, Chief Digital Officer, Manufacturing & Logistics at Cognizant, outlines three key areas for manufacturers for 2019.

To create an ecosystem that will stand the test of time, scaling up in manufacturing is - and will continue to be - a critical area that involves several technological aspects. According to a survey by PwC, 72% of manufacturing companies are dramatically increasing the speed of their digital transformation and expect to be able to be ranked as ‘digitally advanced’ by 2020, compared with just 33% in 2018. These companies are committing almost US$907bn per year, about 5% of revenues, toward greater connectivity and smarter factories.

The second focus area for manufacturers in 2019 will be improving the human experience, not only customer experience (CX) but also employee & partner experience. Companies will, therefore, need to invest heavily in people development and training in 2019.

Last but not least, every company needs to beware of climate change. Companies are struggling with the need to decrease emissions through lower energy consumption. For example, the European Commission has set ambitious targets to lower carbon emissions in the region, as much as 40% less by 2030.”

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