Industrial Digitalisation Review to boost UK productivity

The Review, which is led by Professor Juergen Maier, Chief Executive at Siemens Plc, brings together manufacturing leaders and experts from across the UK to make recommendation which will be included in the government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper.

Why is an Industrial Digitalisation Strategy important?

A recent report by Boston Consulting Group identified that if UK manufacturing businesses fully implement these technologies over the next decade, national production could be 30% faster and 25% more efficient.

The UK is currently behind other nations in defining a strategy for implementation. China have published ‘Made in China 2025’, Germany have their ‘Digital Strategy 2025’ and the USA have ‘Manufacturing USA’, so the work of the Review is vital to help UK industry become more productive and competitive, whilst creating a wealth of well-paid UK jobs.

The full report, released earlier this month (which can be downloaded here), identified opportunities and barriers to UK industries digitalising their operations.

The report uncovered three important themes:

1. Leadership
   There is a need for national approach to leadership to pave the way for faster development and adoption of digital technologies.
2. Speed of adoption
   Current low levels of adoption should be addressed, in particular by providing guidance and toolkits for small and medium manufacturing enterprises on how to begin this transformation through fully funded business support.
3. Innovation
   There will be specific recommendations to drive key technologies including Additive Manufacturing and Artificial Intelligence, as well as a national platform to standardise skills and knowledge across the sector.

The Review is due to publish its full recommendations to government in the autumn. Sign up for our newsletter to receive our summary of the report.