Industrial Manufacturing

Building value for a wide range of industry players

At PwC, we recognize the inherent diversity in the industrial manufacturing industry, so our team provides tailored assistance in helping all players create value for their businesses and achieve success.

The power of digital

Industry 4.0 is transforming the industrial manufacturing landscape through the power of digitization. Digitally enabled capabilities such as: data analytics, machine learning, robotics and IoT will bring new opportunities for business and a set of new challenges to current business models.

How can Canadian organizations realize the full value of digital transformation during the fourth industrial revolution?

 

Using digital to boost productivity and create revenue opportunities

Adopting new technologies and capturing as much data as possible is key and digitization is reshaping how industrial companies go to market, operate and interact with customers. But the digital transformation is time consuming—and expensive—so it’s essential that companies actively plan and monitor their digital investments in order to reap the benefits.

To take advantage of digitization and drive it towards profitable growth, industrial manufacturers in Canada need to understand where they want to be in the marketplace and strategize around existing infrastructure, current workforce and capabilities.

A comprehensive scan of the competitive environment will allow companies to effectively invest to integrate themselves into the digital ecosystem, finding ways to save time, realize revenue and succeed across the value chain.

Encouraging culture change by empowering employees

Canadian organizations shouldn’t underestimate the workforce and culture challenges that accompany a digital transformation. With industrial companies around the globe planning to double their level of digitization within five years, investing over US$900 billion per year to do it, enabling a digital workforce with the leadership and skills necessary to thrive during this revolution is fundamental.

The challenge? Breaking the barriers between the current workforce and new talent. Engaging new employees with specialized skills and investing in continuing education to meet new demands is key—but to prosper in years to come and achieve full profitability, organizations need to nurture a message that drives a cultural change and encourages a strong digital workforce.

Creating innovative partnerships to drive success

Developing the right partnerships is crucial in transforming an industrial organization. High degrees of collaboration between industries, governments and people could lead to innovative solutions and effective new processes.

A collaboration by design approach—built on processes that encourage participation and contribution among all players—as well as open innovation, where customers, competitors, academia and governments get together to develop intellectual property and new processes and products can drive the successful transformation of a conventional company into a connected digital organization.

Setting expectations for digital transformation

It’s fundamental for Canadian organizations to understand that when it comes to complete Industry 4.0 transformation, the rate of adoption is slower than the rate of knowing what has to be done. Being realistic in terms of setting a timetable and designing a plan to work towards that strategy will ensure a proper and successful transition.

Industrial companies know there’s great potential in adopting a digitally-driven platform. But this shift could also be a complicated process and the barriers associated with getting to a highly-efficient state in industry 4.0 are substantial. With a clear strategy, the right leadership and a plan for empowering a digital workforce, Canadian organizations will be well positioned to unlock the full value of digital transformation.

Contact us

Chris Casey

Chris Casey

Partner, Manufacturing Sector Leader, PwC Canada

Tel: +1 416 320 8175

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