North America Leads Industry 4.0, Extensive Adoption Remains Low

A new report by IoT Analytics reveals North American manufacturers are ahead in Industry 4.0 deployment, with General Electric and Boeing considered leaders of their respective industries.

The 286-page report, titled the Industry 4.0 & Smart Manufacturing Adoption Report, details overall adoption for North America, Europe, and Asia, alongside regional and industry differences, leaders, and specific use cases.

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North America, specifically the United States, is currently ahead when it comes to deployment. 36 percent of respondents said they have extensively adopted these technologies, compared to 27 percent in Europe and 20 percent in Asia.

The automotive industry is far ahead of other industries in Industry 4.0 adoption, which includes 3D printing, 5G, AI, AR, robots, cloud, edge, and IoT. 36 percent of respondents in the automotive industry said they have seen the extensive rollout of these technologies, six percent ahead of the electronic components industry, which came second.

“Competition has been driving innovation in the automotive industry for decades,” said IoT Analytics in a summary of the report. “As a result, automotive OEMs have been big adopters of both innovative technologies (such as robotics) and management practices (such as TPS) which yield more efficient operations and thus a competitive edge.”

Tesla, BMW, and Toyota were all recognized as adoption leaders in their respective regions.

German conglomerate Siemens received overall first place for leading Industry 4.0 adoption. IoT Analytics said Siemens is at the forefront of new digital business models, with extensive deployment of Industry 4.0 technologies in its own factories.

However, American businesses General Electric and Boeing came second and third. IoT Analytics praised both Digital Twin approaches, while also complimenting the roll-out of new Industry 4.0 technologies inside factories.

Deployment of Industry 4.0 technologies varies depending on the industry’s needs. For example, the use of drones is far more common in mining and energy projects, while the automotive industry utilizes 3D printing more.