Digital transformation is a top priority for the manufacturing industry, with 54 per cent of enterprises implementing AI and analytics for business processes, according to PwC India survey.
The research noted that digital champions from across the six sectors in the country believe that being resilient, transparent, and sustainable will prepare them for future growth. Additionally, manufacturing companies prefer to adopt one standardised digital solution across plants, compared to global companies, which prefer one standardised digital solution with different functionalities or modules.
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“Organisations are focussing on improving the efficiency of processes, such as reducing the downtime of assets, cutting down on the cost of poor quality by understanding the parameters needed for the golden batch using digital twins, automating processes such as connected workstations using IoT for better visibility at the shop floor, and workflow-based automated solutions for efficient scheduling,” said Sudipta Ghosh, Partner, Industrial Products Sector and Data and Analytics Practice Leader, PwC India
However, 38 per cent of the Indian companies that participated in the survey said they do not have any plans to adopt digital technology for their businesses.
Moreover, investment in digital technology remains a challenge, and a lack of planning for aligning digital transformation with the organisation’s objectives and implementing digital technology remains a greater problem. According to the report, the average payback period is under three years for the technology deployment use cases, and shorter payback periods will encourage organisations to invest in technological solutions.
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Similarly, collaborating with the right team that can devise a custom digital transformation strategy suitable for the organisation and working with the right enablers to implementing the strategy is important to increase the return on investment (ROI).
“Though there is no single model for success, companies should frame a transformation blueprint with answers to key questions before committing to a digital transformation path,” noted Ankur Basu, Partner and Digital Operations Leader, PwC India.