As the digital age accelerates and the global market continues to present steep challenges to businesses’ profit margins, companies are better recognizing the role of Industry X.0 in driving growth. If you haven’t yet heard of Industry X.0, leading management consulting firm Accenture defines it as:

  • “A new digital paradigm for businesses to embrace constant technological change—and profit from it.
  • Businesses that move beyond experimenting with IT bundles or SMAC (social, mobile, analytics, cloud) stacks, combining digital technologies to drive both top-line and bottom-line growth.
  • Businesses that incorporate Industry 4.0’s core operational efficiencies, but also leverage combinations of advanced digital technologies to continuously create new, hyper-personalized experiences in both a business-to-consumer and business-to-business context.”

Pivot International’s proven track record of combining state-of-the-art digital technologies for successfully bringing new products to market has made it a leader in Industry X.0 and a premier single-source partner for top companies worldwide. With a nearly 50-year history in product development and design, Pivot leverages smart, efficient processes that increase productivity and lower costs.

To make the most of Industry X.0, it’s not enough to merely mix and match digital technologies. Companies must also update their operating models and value chains to create a larger eco-system in which digital combinations can gain the greatest traction. That said, combining technologies is a worthy place to start on the road to building digital muscle. With this in mind, what digital combinations are proving to most powerfully drive cost savings and growth? We’ll focus on four in particular.

1. Augmented and Virtual Reality

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are allowing manufacturers to speed up their design processes and perform more in-depth product testing prior to production. By making it easier to contextually experiment with designs and iteratively improve them, these technologies lend themselves to next-level innovation and superior performance. At Pivot International, for instance, our teams utilize AR and VR to make strategic product improvements to designs. This enables us to deliver significant cost-savings to our clients since it can eliminate or reduce the need for physical materials until later in the product development process.

2. Artificial Intelligence

Designs can be created with a potentially dizzying array of features. This can make it difficult to accurately assess which features are superfluous and which are indispensable as assessed from functional-performance, user-experience, manufacturability, and marketability perspectives. While AR and VR facilitate experimentation to determine what features can be developed, artificial intelligence (AI) delivers predictive analytics that helps product developers identify which features should be developed. AI can also be used to predict possible threats to a potential product’s success, such as market instability or supply chain vulnerability. This helps businesses reduce risk throughout the product development process, especially in the volatile front-end stages.

3. Digital Twinning

Via the creation of virtual models or digital replicas of physical assets, digital twinning makes it possible for either AI programs or human operators to monitor these assets for potential problems and correct them prior to their actual occurrence. This is done using data from Internet-of-Things sensors placed on physical assets to analyze their efficiency, condition, and real-time status. Creating a digital twin helps companies gain insight into how to proactively improve operations, increase efficiency, and identify issues before they become problems. Machine-learning feeds this valuable data back into the original system with the result that risk is dramatically reduced and ROI is significantly increased.  

4. 3D Printing

Most often used for prototyping, 3D printing (also known as additive manufacturing) can save companies both time and money by producing product iterations at a faster, more economical rate. As products in development often need to undergo multiple iterations in rapid succession, 3D printing expedites design updates and modifications. It also allows businesses to easily and quickly create personalized products for an individual customer or niche market.

Becoming an Industry X.0 enterprise starts with taking steps to leverage the right combination of digital technology that’s right for your business. Those that embark on this technological journey today will become the growth leaders of tomorrow. If you’re ready to revolutionize your product development and see how Pivot’s advanced application of Industry X.0 can help your business successfully scale for the future, contact us today.