The Italian 4.0 has reached a value of 4,1 Billion Euros in 2020, with an 8% increase, thanks mostly to IT technologies, which account for 85% of expenditure against the 15% of Operational Technologies. It is what was registered by the 4.0. Industry Observatory at the University of “Politechnico di Milano” in the latest market survey.
The investments in the manufacturing companies are prevalently concentrated on connectivity projects and data acquisitions (Industrial Internet of Things) that value 2.4. billions of Euros and 60% of expenditure, and in Industrial Analytics, value 685 million and 17% of the market. The rest of the expenditure in 4.0 solutions is divided between Cloud Manufacturing (390 million, 8%), consultation and educational services (275 million, 7%), Advanced Automation (215 million, 5%) additive Manufacturing (92 million, 2%) and Advanced Human Machine Interface (57 million, 1%). The market increase was lower than the 2019 predictions (+20%), but nevertheless positive, if we consider that the estimations done during the first lockdown were predicting a 5% decrease.
The predictions for 2021 indicate an even faster expenditure acceleration by a rate between 12% and 15%, surpassing the 4,5 billion of Euros, pushed mainly by Cloud manufacturing (+25%-30%), Advanced Automation (+15%-20%) and Advanced HMI (12%-18%). The increases of the following are estimated to be less than the previous. In particular: Industrial IoT (+9%-14%), Advanced Analytics (+12-16%) and Additive Manufacturing (+6%-12%). In the services sector, an increase of 10-15% is predicted.
There are almost 1.400 applications from the 4.0 Industry, which are used for 28% more than they were in 2019. The most widespread are the Industrial IoT solutions accounting for a quarter of the total (380, +31%), often combines with Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Analytics. Following are the Advanced HMI technologies, as well as the wearable and interface man-car for buying and accelerating data in visual, vocal and tactile format (286, +15%), Advanced Automation (241, +5%), I.e. the production systems automized as collaborative robots, Industrial Analytics, increasing applications (200, +39%), focalized on predictions of performance of industrial assets and production process, Cloud Manufacturing (140, +33%), used most of all for monitoring and diagnosing production plants from distance; Additive Manufacturing (125, +30%), notes also as a 3D Stampers is mainly spread in the automotive and aerospace industries.
The opportunity offered by this Plan are well known for the production companies: 83% of the interviewed 175 big companies and SMEs knows the tax credits of the investments in capital goods, 55% for R&D and 52% for education. Companies are hoping that other forms of incentives will support this market growth. In the following six months, the biggest needs are tax cuts for factory workers to lower labor costs (55%) and employing personal incentives (41%), while in the following two years the companies would, before all, like to review the actual forms of imper and super amortization on goods (buying, revamping and accessories), indicating from 48% of the sample, and new incentives diverse than the current ones for investments in immaterial goods (software and platforms for the integration system), important for 39% of the companies.
During the pandemics, Smart Working has spread even in manufacturing companies. 37% of them have introduced forms of flexibility in managing working hours, other 37% of mansions and working places, 28% use instruments for tracking competencies, 19% monitor the health conditions of workers and 17% give the liberty to choose remote working or going in the office. 40% of educational activities, auditing and controlling and monitoring of the factories have been transferred remotely, while 25%-30% of maintenance activity, office management and car testing. The benefits are evident: there has been an increase of flexibility (in 67% of cases), timely response (55%), workers satisfaction (60%) and work-life balance (62%), even though in some cases stress and load of work has increased (16%).
Smart technologies have had a decisive role in enabling this transformation: it is fundamental for companies to have adopted instruments of IoT for keeping track of processes (38%), using digital dashboards (34%), platforms for collaborating from the distance (25%) and cybersecurity technologies (22%). From an organizational point of view, majority of companies stress the need to increase autonomy (31%) and operators polyvalency (29%) and involve them in digitalization of the production process (29%), besides developing technical, management and decisional competences.
Manufacturing companies are increasingly aware of the competitive advantage that a strong commitment to sustainability can offer. 15% have already completed sustainability projects within operations, about a third have initiated some activity and only 3% are not interested. Forty-three percent have done so to anticipate market trends and respond to customer demands, and over a third to build a sustainable brand image.
Advanced Automation (30%) and Industrial IoT (28%) are the most crucial technologies according to companies that have completed or initiated sustainability projects in operations, followed by Analytics (16%), Cloud (11%), Additive Manufacturing (11%) and Advanced HMI (5%). On the other hand, the areas potentially most affected by using Smart Technologies for sustainability, are consumption monitoring in operations management (56% of the overall sample), and end-of-life product management (46%).
Companies mainly monitor indicators related to process waste, such as waste and polluting emissions (51%), consumption of water, materials and energy along the various stages of the production process (48%), but a quarter of the sample still does not measure any performance indicator related to sustainability. Main barriers of using digital to improve sustainability are the lack of corporate culture (37%), the lack of indicators linking sustainability performance to the value of a company (30%) and the difficulty in understanding what the expected benefits are (29%). Only for 12% the problem is linked to the lack of data and only for 9% the absence of appropriate technologies, a sign of technological maturity now acquired.
In 2020, 4.0 services reached a value of about 275 million euros, +8% compared to the previous year, driven mainly by operational consulting, while strategic consulting continues to find little space. Despite initial fears, consulting firms seem to have succeeded in shifting their activities to digital channels, significantly reducing the possible effects of the pandemic and opening to a business model based on providing more sustainable products and services of value to the client (Servitization 4.0).
Two-thirds of companies are already accustomed to using capital goods and software for a monthly or annual fee, but the opportunities offered by the connection of machinery are still not exploited by companies. Only a quarter of respondents use information services associated with a machine, such as fault or malfunction detection, or preventive maintenance services based on the condition of the machine, less than one in ten use services for better energy management of machines and very few companies have developed predictive maintenance solutions (less than 5%). Manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS), is still unknown to two-thirds of companies, but it is starting to spread worldwide in the form of digital platforms that bring a small revolution in the procurement of mechanical parts. In Europe alone, there are already five fully operational platforms.
