Manufacturers stand to reap big benefits by digitizing their operations, not only financially through cost reductions but also operationally, to gain such abilities as being able to fast-track production changes in response to market conditions in real, or near-real, time.
Jonathan Van Wyck, partner and managing director at the Boston Consulting Group, says gains from digitization are too substantial for manufacturers to ignore and that over time it will become the de facto way of competing. The real challenge, he says, is to attain the speed and scale of digitization to operate optimally.
In a conversation with Knowledge@Wharton, Van Wyck discusses the opportunities and challenges manufacturers face as they embrace the Internet of Things, advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, data analytics and other technologies. The stakes are high. “If you’re not operating under this new paradigm, you’ll fall behind and ultimately be uncompetitive,” he says.
