One in 10 of manufacturers claim they already have an established IoT project underway, with 22% either running a pilot or planning a project within the next 12 months. More than a third (38%) claim to be investigating its potential.
The research, which polled manufacturers across 12 countries, including North America, UK, Germany, France, Italy, China and India, also revealed that IoT is the single biggest business priority for one in 10 manufacturers, with 28% putting it in their top three.
Most (55%) of the manufacturers polled view cost savings from greater operational efficiencies as the greatest opportunity associated with the initiative, with a third envisaging competitive advantage through additional revenue from new services.
Specific benefits, according to the research, are likely to come through productivity, which topped the list according to 20%, followed by better insight and decision-making (15%); greater use of equipment and machinery (15%); new services (11%); and new revenue streams (13%).
However, Infor claimed a lack of ownership is impeding IoT adoption with respondents citing nine different functions as the primary drivers of IoT. These span a range of roles from the executive team (31%) and IT (28%), to marketing (5%); manufacturing operations (13%) and facilities (6%). When asked about challenges to IoT implementation, respondents pointed to a lack of skills, unclear benefits and cost as the primary culprits.
Andrew Kinder (pictured), VP Industry & Solution Strategy at Infor, said: “Manufacturers, challenged by the constant need to improve productivity, see the competitive advantage available to them through exploiting IoT technologies. This research confirms that over half of manufacturers recognise the potential and are either piloting projects or actively investigating use-cases.
“We expect more of these pilot projects to evolve into production-ready deployments over the next 18 months – which should send a warning message to the 43% of respondents who have yet to recognise the value.”
He added: “But with only 10% claiming complete readiness, there is clearly an untapped opportunity ahead for companies with the right vision. Our advice would be to look at the device data you are already collecting – most plant equipment is already instrumented – and ask what questions could you answer if only you could collect it, apply analytics and distribute the insight quickly to the right decision maker?
"Even better, who outside your organisation would want to purchase the information only you can provide? Then have this conversation with your technology provider – the pieces are all available to turn it into a reality.”
The full report can be downloaded here.
