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Tereza Bergr
4 minutes

How is digitisation changing the face of manufacturing companies and the automotive industry?

Everything is constantly changing and evolving. New things replace the old. Home furnishings, appliances, cars. This is despite the typical human temperament, which tends to lean more towards the steoreotype. Digitalization offers many advantages for individuals, simplifying our daily activities. In industry, its impact is even more visible. It is changing the face of manufacturing companies and the entire automotive industry.

Digitalisation is undoubtedly a major trend in business and industry today. More and more analysts and CEOs are stressing its importance to stay competitive. In many industries and sectors, digitalization is a key enabler for efficiency, automation, innovation and improved customer experience.

Procrastinating on digitalisation can have a negative impact on a company’s competitiveness. So can ill-considered investments in digital technology. Set your company’s digital strategy, analyze your needs and processes. The benefits of digitalisation will be multiplied.

Czech Industry Analysis 2023

This fact is also realized by 207 respondents of the Czech Industry Analysis 2023, prepared by the National Centre for Industry 4.0. The interviews were conducted with key representatives of selected companies of the Czech industry.

Manufacturing companies are planning to continue investing in new technologies in the coming years. This is despite the receding jump in input prices and the overall difficult market situation.

  • 65% of companies plan to increase investment in innovation.
  • On average, they intend to increase innovation spending by 14%.
  • Only 9% of the companies surveyed plan to limit innovation.

The research clearly shows how companies are aware of the importance of data. 

  • Automatic data collection is carried out by 74% of large companies and 41% of SMEs.
  • However, few of them claim to link these data and create a unified whole. Smaller companies do not even collect and evaluate data immediately, but rather only at certain intervals.

Digitisation in a positive light

Digitisation, data collection, instant analysis and short response times have many positives for companies.

  • The efficiency of production processes is increased. Data gives companies an overview of machine usage, performance, raw material consumption,
  • Costs are coming down. Optimisation of production processes leads to lower costs. The need for manual labour is also reduced.
  • The quality of the products is increasing. Modern technologies better monitor, evaluate and optimise the production process. The quality of the resulting products ultimately increases. Information on complaints, defects, customer feedback is more readily available. The correlation of data (e.g. displayed via the WorkSys platform) enables more flexible identification of areas for improvement.
  • The response to change is faster. Flexibility grows. Digital tools allow companies to react quickly to changes in the market or changes in customer requirements. The company effectively adapts its strategy and processes.
  • Decision making is better, it stands on solid ground. The use of big data and analytics tools gives companies a comprehensive view of their business, processes, operations. It facilitates decision making processes for production, inventory planning, resource allocation. Based on historical data, companies can better predict future demand. Prevent production errors by using a digital twin (e.g. Twinzo).

Competitiveness increases. Companies can gain a competitive advantage if they effectively use digital technologies, data and analyse customer preferences including feedback. They can better identify market trends and adapt products to them.

Concerns about digitisation

There are still many uncertainties and potential obstacles around the introduction of Industry 4.0 and AI into manufacturing. Most of them are related to artificial intelligence. Its deployment in companies is hampered by unclear responsibilities. Greater openness to putting AI into practice is likely to come with clarification of responsibilities for decisions made by AI. Hand in hand with this must be a clarification of who is responsible for any damage caused by AI.

  • 75% of directors of the Czech Industry Analysis 2023 complain about the lack of clarity in AI legislation.
  • According to the survey results, 36% of large companies and 12% of SMEs have encountered legal obstacles when implementing Industry 4.0 and AI.

AI is still an open chapter and a very new topic. It is not only the industry that is struggling with intellectual property rights in AI deployment, patent protection legislation, copyright.

Higher efficiency, better decision-making, lower costs, production flexibility, better competitiveness are sufficient arguments for the digitalisation of a company.

It is not easy to set a specific time estimate for when it is appropriate to embark on this wave. It depends on many factors such as the industry you are in, the size of the company, the competitive environment, available resources and many other variables.

Focus on comprehensive digitisation. And we don’t mean a monstrous IT solution for the entire company. Focus on the digitalisation plan, the interconnection of systems and the logical links between them. Conduct a digital audit in your company. If you need support, direction, experience sharing, get in touch.