In volatile market conditions, manufacturers must become quicker, smarter, and greener to survive. The transformation of traditional — often conservative — manufacturing firms involves more than just making existing physical processes more efficient. Business and technology leaders increasingly work together to build future fit organizations that are adaptive, creative, and resilient, unlocking more sustainable and profitable customer relationships as a result.

My latest report, The Future Of Manufacturing, has just been published. I also discuss the report’s findings in this on-demand webinar for Forrester clients.

Four broad trends shape the future of manufacturing
Four big trends shape the future of manufacturing.

 

The report identifies four big external trends that manufacturers must respond to and describes eight clusters of technology in the toolbox for business and technology leaders to use in crafting their responses. It then considers the three innovation horizons (short, medium, and longer term) over which technologies will be developed, deployed, and scaled. These move from ad hoc growth in capabilities like additive manufacturing and IoT in the short term, to customer-led and technology-enabled innovations around near-pervasive automation or manufacturing’s move off-planet over the longer term.

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