An Insight into West Michigan Trends

The Industry 4.0 Readiness Poll was administered to assess the familiarity and implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies in companies across West Michigan. The survey covered a period of 2021 Q2 to 2022 Q2, and received 214 unique responses. The respondents represented 29 industries, primarily comprising manufacturing subsectors, as well as other industries such as IT and building and construction. 

Machinery Manufacturing, Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing, Other, Automotive Manufacturing, and Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing made up the top 5 industries represented.

  • Food Processing (19,288 full-time employees)

  • Automotive (6,218 FT)

  • Aerospace and Defense (3,315 FT)

  • Plastics and Rubber Product Manufacturing (2,326 FT)

  • Advanced Manufacturing and Automation (2,209 FT)

Most responses were made by companies located in Ottawa County followed by Muskegon County, Allegan County, and Kent County.

Implementation and Barriers

According to the survey, the top 3 most widely implemented Industry 4.0 technologies are

  • System Integration (71 companies indicated currently using it)
  • Cybersecurity (69 companies)
  • Cloud Computing (65 companies).

 

The least leveraged technology by far is Augmented & Virtual Reality (6 companies).

Yet, the survey seems to indicate that if companies had more staff with Industry 4.0 experience they would implement at a higher rate. A “lack of expertise within staff to implement” accounted for 33 companies’ reasoning as barriers to implement Industry 4.0 technology, while another 20 cited a “lack of understanding.” Cost was the second most cited barrier (27 companies). The least cited barrier was “business is too slow” (4 companies) which may suggest manufacturers may be in a solid financial position to implement Industry 4.0 technologies, should cost and talent constraints ease.

Implementation varies by industry across the board, but Machinery Manufacturing stands out as a leading adopter of Industry 4.0 technologies. The tables below provide additional detail into which industries are adopting the top three most popular Industry 4.0 technologies.

 

System Integration:

Primary Industry

Companies

Machinery Manufacturing

11

Automotive Manufacturing

7

Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing

7

Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing

7

Advanced Manufacturing & Automation

6

Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing

6

Cyber Security:

Primary Industry

Companies

Machinery Manufacturing

11

Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing

10

Automotive Manufacturing

6

Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing

5

Food Processing

5

Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing

5

Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing

5

Durable Goods Manufacturing

5

 

Cloud Computing:

Primary Industry

Companies

Machinery Manufacturing

10

Automotive Manufacturing

8

Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing

7

Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing

6

Food Processing

6

Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing

6

 

Going Forward

Generally speaking, more than half of all companies surveyed (53%) felt they were somewhat or very prepared to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies and more than two-thirds of companies were interested in learning more. It comes as no surprise that companies who felt they were somewhat or very prepared to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies skewed towards larger sized companies. Companies who felt they were “a little prepared” or “didn’t know” tended to have, on average, an operation a third of the size of more prepared companies. Clear leaders in Industry 4.0 readiness were those companies in Automotive Manufacturing and Machinery Manufacturing, though, those industries also contained a significant number of companies indicating they were “a little prepared”. The survey’s results reveal growing momentum for West Michigan manufacturers when it comes to Industry 4.0. Yet, it also reveals the necessity to continue eliminating barriers for companies to adopt Industry 4.0 and continue educating companies across industries – particularly those small- to medium-size manufacturers. There is still much work and opportunity for efficiency ahead of us all.