Products and production contain ever more often also data-based services. The digitalization of industry with sensors and advances in communication technology has enabled the exploitation of increasingly growing amounts of data across partner network. This requires systematic data collection, storage, transfer, processing, combining and analysis. Enabling technologies, like Industrial Internet, 5G and edge computing, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), in addition to e.g. open architecture initiatives like IDS , are paving the way for increased flexibility and agility in dynamic manufacturing networks with more intelligent processes. Agile companies analyse the changing needs of their customers and develop their operations by observing not only the customers and their behaviour but also the future trends with partner network. Responsibility will be emphasized more and more as the significance of minimizing resource usage and environmental impact increases with growing environmental awareness. The composition of work will also change and there will be new roles and tasks.

A central issue is how we can best exploit these opportunities in creating added value through the whole ecosystem in addition to enhancing customer orientation, productivity and meaningfulness of work. There are also ethical questions to be pondered when the decision-making shifts (partly) from humans to systems.

The first step is to understand the level of your organisation’s maturity. After that, selecting potential improvement steps becomes possible. VTT’s ManuMaturity Tool can be used as a free-of-charge self-assessment web tool, which produces a basic visualisation of ManuMaturity. It gives a baseline of current ManuMaturity in seven dimensions, which can be used for recognising the most important and urgent development targets depending on the nature of the business and size of the organisation.

The seven dimensions of the ManuMaturity Tool include Customer orientation, Business model, Processes, Data, Infrastructure, Employee and Sustainability.