Oracle shows the top 5 trends in industrial manufacturing 2023.
Despite labor shortages, continued supply chain disruptions, and ever-fluctuating demand, the manufacturing industry is on the front foot. Production of industrial goods—a category that includes aircraft, automobiles, chemicals, computers, consumer electronics, heavy machinery, oil, and steel—is surpassing prepandemic levels. The industry is making a generational shift from machine-based assembly lines to “smart factories,” using robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics, augmented reality (AR), and other cutting-edge technologies.
This movement, commonly known as Industry 4.0, is the next stage in the digitization of manufacturing, driven by advances in automation and connectivity. For example, a manufacturer adopting Industry 4.0 tenets might use drones to deliver parts and simplify assembly-line inspections. Or technicians might use AR headsets during production machine maintenance to call up instructions or schematics.