Who would have expected that the machines and equipment sector, which astonished the world a long time ago, and was labeled the beginning of an industrial revolution, would themselves witness a digital transformation so they become more intelligent?
Yes, smarter! Artificial intelligence and digital transformation are not limited to financial and medical services… Rather, they extend to the industrial sector, especially the manufacturing of machinery and equipment.
Today is the time of change, time for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which depends mainly on the Internet of things and wireless devices, artificial intelligence, robots, and everything related to digital innovations.
According to a study by IoT Analytics, the cumulative growth rate of the global market for Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies will continue to rise at a rate of 37 percent until 2025.
The consulting firm (PwC) also announced that investments in Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies globally will constitute more than 50 percent of the investment capital as a whole over the next five years.
Turning point
As for the machinery and equipment industry, it has reached a turning point. Today, we are witnessing a great wave of transformation and change in the sector at the regional level, becoming the most influential change in decades.
In this context, Bain & Company expects that by 2030, leading companies will sell equipment and machinery, within the framework of the “aggregate solutions” approach that links programs and services, and which reduces the percentage of reliance on machines in order to earn profits.
Companies that rely on this type of transformation have the opportunity to get market growth rates that exceed companies that rely on legacy systems for running their businesses.
These transformations that drive the development of the sector will be driven by increased competition, the slowdown in innovation that focuses on machines, and digital transformation to shape a promising future, according to the director of the global machinery and equipment sector in the company.
Superiority and competition
Industrial companies that have dedicated their efforts in the field of digital transformation are likely to outperform four times when entering the field of competition, according to a survey conducted by the same company during 2019, which included 205 industrial companies.
The transformations are allowing the industry to be reshaped into a robust response to the global push for companies to keep pace with sustainability and environmental responsibility and control them to become more energy efficient.
This is in addition to working on reducing waste, improving the production cycle by detailing processes, and activating the methodology of mechanisms for recycling.
These companies are also working to continuously change the framework of the structure of operations and supply chains, with the aim of reducing greenhouse gases and carbon emissions in order to achieve net-zero emissions.
OEMs
Equipment markets are increasing the rate of investments in digital technologies and accelerating the deployment of advanced services.
100 percent of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) surveyed by Bain & Company plan to offer “predictive maintenance” for machines by 2024.
This is in addition to providing 95 percent of remote maintenance methods, and new services geared towards increasing operational efficiency.
Regional countries
The UAE paid close attention to its industrial infrastructure, the establishment of industrial zones, and the overcoming of the obstacles that stood against the progress of the industrial sector, in terms of facilities and legislation.
The country accounts for about 40 percent of the digital manufacturing machinery market supplies, at the MENA level.
As for Saudi, the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 keeps pace with this digital development and the technologies of the industrial revolution.
The expected spending in the Kingdom over the next three years on artificial intelligence technologies will increase by 32 percent.
It will increase by 25% investments in virtual reality technologies, and at varying rates of increase for the rest of the technologies, according to a study from Accenture.
