The Lombard SMEs believe in Industry 4.0, but it’s a long way ahead

Here in a nutshell are the results of a survey carried out by API (Association of Small and Medium Enterprises) in collaboration with Samsung Electronics Italia, in occasion of the event “API: innovation for the industry 4.0”, held in Milan in March.

The survey gave insight into the degree of knowledge and adoption of various 4.0 technologies by SMEs associated with results that reveal a business structure that still need tools to explore the topic. If, in fact, 42% of entrepreneurs consider the Industry 4.0 represents a revolution that affects all areas of the company, 15% believe that the phenomenon involves the introduction of new technologies (Wi-Fi, mobile mail and smart working). For 25% of respondents, Industry 4.0 means technological evolution of manufacturing and production that generate value for customers, while 18% of respondents say they do not know exactly how to describe it.

To the question: “What is the biggest obstacle that you see in implementing Industry 4.0 ?” 29% of respondents replied that the interventions to be made at the corporate level are not clear, while for 24% of the entrepreneurs the major drawback lies in investments.

In light of the data collected from the API survey, three markets will enjoy the greatest expansion as part of the fourth industrial revolution: healthcare, automotive and smart home.
And if 25% of the business fabric will invest in their production processes in 2017 regarding 4.0, 56% of respondents expect they will only make marginal interventions and 13% declared they probably won’t make any significant changes.