Louis Columbus for Forbes:  

• Smart factories are revolutionizing manufacturing by enabling a 7X increase in overall productivity by 2022.
• Smart factories have the potential to add $500B to $1.5T in value added to the global economy in five years.
• 76% of manufacturers either have a smart factory initiative that is ongoing or are working on defining one, with 14% of companies satisfied with their level of accomplishment.

These and many other insights are from Capgemini’s latest market analysis, Smart Factories: How can manufacturers realize the potential of digital industrial revolution. A PDF of the report is available here (32 pp., PDF, free, no opt-in). Capgemini’s Digital Transformation Institute (DTI) collaborated with Digital Manufacturing Services to produce this study. The research team surveyed 1,000 senior executives of large companies currently planning to and currently implementing smart factories globally. Please see page 27 of the report for additional details on the methodology.

Capgemini found that industrial manufacturing, aerospace and defense, and automotive and transportation industries have the highest percentage of manufacturers who have an ongoing smart factory initiative today. Contributing technologies to smart factory initiatives include Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Robotics, 3D printing and cloud computing platforms that unify these technologies together, enabling faster smart factory deployments globally. These technologies. all unified by cloud platforms are revolutionizing the global manufacturing landscape today.  Full Article: