How automotive organizations can maximize the smart factory potential

Industry appetite for smart factories is growing, but do they have the scale for it?

The automotive industry has its sights firmly set on the promise of smart factories, which could be worth up to $167 billion by 2023 and many want a piece of the action, pouring multi-million dollar investments into smart facilities. Our research has shown that firms can realize annual productivity gains of 2.8%–4.4% by 2023 from smart factory initiatives. But despite this potential, only a handful of OEMs and suppliers are set to achieve the necessary scale. We wanted to understand why and to explore how the automotive industry can turn this appetite for smart factories into reality.

Aggressive plans and smart transformations

For the latest report from the Capgemini Research Institute – How automotive organizations can maximize the smart factory potential  – we surveyed a hundred auto firms, 98 of which have existing smart factory initiatives underway. We also spoke to executives overseeing smart factory initiatives across the world. We found that:

• One in two organizations have made good progress on their journey.
• Nearly one-third of factories have undergone a smart transformation in the past two years.
• The industry has aggressive plans for smart factory adoption.
• One in four auto firms are prepared to invest in a greenfield factory strategy.

Smart factories are the key to thriving in Industry 4.0

To take advantage of the benefits of smart factories, OEMs and suppliers alike have to address a number of priorities, from a comprehensive strategy to integrated solutions, IT–OT convergence to talent. Only then will they be able to take advantage of the full potential of smart factories which are a critical part of Intelligent Industry.