Expanding Manufacturers’ Horizons with Servitization
Given the recent global economic uncertainty and challenges manufacturers face, it may come as a surprise that last year UK manufacturers reported the second-highest level of optimism in the near-decade long history, in The Manufacturer’s Annual Manufacturing Report. Driven by the opportunities that Industry 4.0 presents to manufacturers, to improve efficiency and provide more partnership all along their supply chains, this optimism isn’t surprising.
But not only are Industry 4.0 technologies such as automation, robotics and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) creating opportunities for greater efficiency and collaboration, they’re also creating data. A lot of data. Although managing this data can present its own challenge, it also presents a tremendous opportunity to create new products and services from the insights this data provides. That opportunity is servitization. It allows manufacturers to provide greater value to their customers further up the value chain and greater visibility to their suppliers further down the value chain.
At Microsoft, we’ve been able to help a number of UK-based global manufacturers, such as pipeline and flow leader Rotork, and aerospace pioneer Rolls-Royce, make better use of their data to create tangible business value through greater insight and servitization.
If you want to get a better understanding of how you can transform and create business value by embracing Industry 4.0 technology, the first place to start is our new whitepaper: The Road to Customer Intimacy through a Service-Centred Approach. Developed jointly between Microsoft and The Manufacturer magazine, this report gives practical insight into digital transformation in manufacturing – from the impact on manufacturers’ people and culture to key value drivers.
