We are speeding towards the future. The past few months have brought enormous changes, especially on the technology and artificial intelligence fronts. The year 2024 could therefore be a landmark year in many respects, including for the industrial automation industry.
Table of contents
By observing the market and the changes taking place, as well as by talking to top professionals, we have decided to prepare a small summary of the hottest trends that are expected to have the greatest impact on the industry in the coming months.
What is it that will drive the industrial automation market? Which factors should those running their businesses pay the most attention to? Which solutions will prove to be 'gamechangers' on the scale of victory or defeat? Which solutions will be the 'game-changers' of victory or defeat, of leaving the competition behind or overtaking them in the race for customers' trust?
Artificial intelligence is entering the game
According to a report by IDC, changes in the introduction of AI into betting are happening before our eyes, but many businesses are still approaching the subject with considerable restraint. IDC's survey shows that in the next 24 months, only 34 per cent want to significantly replace humans with intelligent machines, while 63 per cent stated that they have no such plans.
The whole corresponds to predictions about the implementation of artificial intelligence in the long term. Indeed, it is forecast that by 2027, total employment in the industry will have decreased by as much as 40 per cent, precisely because more jobs are being replaced by AI solutions.
However, one should always have a warning in the back of one's head, as Tomasz Pinkowski, an expert at Siemens, put it on the Automation Trader video channel. - There are a few concerns when it comes to AI. These could be social, philosophical or even moral factors - he said.
- I am of the opinion that we should approach AI with a measure of caution and yet not trust it completely. We should still make these strategic decisions ourselves - Pinkowski added.
With a dose of caution and safety procedures in place, all possible predictions agree - faster or slower, but nothing will stop this trend.
Understand and decide
Something that will certainly dominate the industrial automation industry in 2024 is undoubtedly education and its role in decision-making processes. This is because we are in a very volatile time, where almost every week there is some kind of technological innovation or AI solution. If we are not aware of this, if we do not understand what is really happening around us, we may very quickly find ourselves falling far behind our competitors.
Here, of course, it is worth turning to professionals who have the necessary knowledge and will be able to pass it on to business people so that they are able to make informed decisions. - We know this, but business people very often do not have this knowledge - Przemysław J. Sulich from A1Europe, a company which deals with obtaining subsidies, also for technological development, commented specifically for Automation Trader.
- Often we have to act as a kind of second pair of eyes that sees more and can toss some things around, or a kind of educator who explains what can be done, how much and to what extent - he added. - An interesting case in the context of subsidies is that those companies that used them had twice as much turnover after a while as those that did not, he concluded.
Data is the new gold
No, this is not an overstatement at all. Data is the new gold and more and more companies are recognising this. - It's a colloquial statement, but that's how it is at the moment - Sebastian Lemieszek, who at Siemens is in charge of implementing new technologies in production plants, admitted in an interview with Automation Trader.
- If we have already managed to automate production and move from Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0, we should already have huge amounts of process data at our disposal. And now, it is in the Industry 4.0 phase that we need to focus on the utilisation of this data to achieve a tangible financial benefit - Lemieszek added.
And this data will be even more important in the near future. And not just in the form of end-to-end analysis, but - and perhaps above all - in real-time analysis. Monitoring machines and processes "live" is something that, in a specific plant, will not only allow us to react immediately to what is happening and thus reduce the risk of downtime and financial losses.
Safety first
Security, or rather cyber security. A subject on which we are increasingly aware and an area on which it is not possible or worth saving.
According to the 'Global Threat Roundup' report by Forescount Research, last year alone there were 420 million attacks of all kinds on global critical infrastructure. If we could visualise this even more bluntly, just imagine that such an attack occurred worldwide every... 13 seconds. Pretty impressive, right?
Compared to 2022, the number of attacks has increased by as much as 30 per cent. However, nothing has changed in terms of who is most often the victim of hackers. Here, the lead is obviously led by the United States, which, according to the report, was attacked by 168 different entities. Countries such as the United Kingdom (88), Germany (77), India (72) and Japan (66) come next in this not very commendable ranking.
At the other extreme are those countries from which these attacks are believed to originate, i.e. China (155), Russia (88) and Iran (45).
What is subject to attack? Critical infrastructure, of course, but also ordinary business, including industrial plants. - In my opinion, very simple arguments play their part here. Business is followed by money and it is the temptation to make a big and easy buck. This is the thinking of the people responsible for the attacks. Maybe they will succeed. Let's give it a try. Out of ten companies, two are bound to succumb. Easy money - said Ryszard Korzeniecki from Softinet, who was a guest of Automation Trader.
Easy money and big money - sounds good, but what scale are we really talking about? At this point, then, concrete figures should speak for themselves. - How much does such an attack cost on average? According to recent reports, we are talking about a value of between $1 and $1.2 million. As for those record ransoms, it was $30 million in 2020 and just twelve months later it was $240 million, he concluded.
Green energy
One can be against certain regulations, one can passionately support them, but it seems that a very concrete direction has already been taken on this topic. There is a particularly strong focus on green energy in Europe, whose countries will have to meet stringent environmental and energy requirements.
- We need to start now, rather than wait until 2030 and suddenly find ourselves with our hands in the pot - confessed Ryszard Stefański of EWE Polska in an interview with Automation Trader.
In a moment's time, every company will have to prepare reports on its carbon footprint and whether it is within the prescribed standards for the size of its business. If we don't do this, we may find that the big ones not only won't invest in us, but also won't want to work with smaller companies, which will automatically increase their carbon footprint.
The whole thing also has a second, more human aspect. It is, of course, about customer choice and awareness. For many, environmental issues are increasingly important nowadays, not only in everyday life, but also in business. Not surprisingly, if a value is important to a person, he or she would like his or her world view to be reflected in every possible sector. From there, it's a straight line to business cooperation with partners who share these green and ecological views.
Believe it or not, this green revolution is already underway, driven by the very concrete formal framework that has been outlined in the European Union. The question is, how does all this relate to the actions of the giants, i.e. the US, China or Russia?
These five trends are something we will not escape from. These changes are already taking place and should only gain momentum in 2024. So what reality will the industrial automation sector wake up to in twelve months' time?
