Since the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing has driven both technological innovation and labor practice reform, but for the past few years, we’ve hit a bit of a snag. While the industry remains ripe for disruption, we are dragging our feet on network modernization. The old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” rings true now more than ever.
For most of the manufacturing world, we are living in the land of the dinosaurs. A majority of the manufacturing assets in use today are over 10 years-old, with a high percentage actually closer to 20 years-old. With old assets comes new challenges and a clash between the desire to adopt new technology to drive better business outcomes and the cost to do so due to outdated equipment.
Gartner conducted a study aimed at marketers of emerging technology, helping them determine where to position new products based upon likely investment. The chart below shows the disparity, by industry, between the desire to invest in emerging technology and actual investments in those areas. Take a look way down at the bottom. You’ll see manufacturing second to last, just above construction. What does that mean for all of us in manufacturing tech? The industry REALLY wants to invest, but we don’t!
Source: Gartner Digital Markets. Results presented in this survey are based on a Gartner study conducted online between April and May 2017, among 699 respondents at U.S. small and midsize businesses.
In addition to old assets, the networks upon which those assets are running and communicating have been cobbled together over the years, and that’s where Panduit steps in. As manufacturing begins to replace the old assets with new, we’re here to help design and deploy a network foundation that supports those investments and ensures seamless communication and data analysis capabilities. The old, organically grown networks aren’t going to cut it. We recently caught up with Control Magazine and Smart Industry to provide recommendations on how to approach network modernization in a world of digital transformation. There is a lot to consider! Let Panduit walk your plant with you to assess what you have and help plan a path forward.
For more information, click here to read “Planning ahead when developing your industrial network infrastructure” recently featured in Smart Industry.
