Manufacturing – Opportunities for Innovation
3.1
Empowerment
With the evolution of digital technologies, stakeholders are being empowered with information.
Highly accurate sensors, devices with the ability to sustain extreme conditions and better
connectivity options (i.e., AllJoyn®, Bluetooth® low energy (BLE), Thread) improve information
availability. In the future, the evolution of such technology enabling real time communication
among humans and machines will result in enhanced decision-making speed and implementation
of these decisions, increasing productivity. The workplace will be reimagined as machines, BOTs
(automated or semi-automated tools that carry out repetitive and mundane tasks) and machine
operators will interact in real time. Operators can work from anywhere without physical
boundaries.
A Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Survey report7 points out that organizations have already
started reaping the benefits of empowerment. To illustrate, the report mentions increased
productivity in GE plants, with incorporation of mobile technology into SCADA systems. The new
technology empower