Results show electronics and appliance manufacturers are leading the way in Industry 4.0 technology investments and use case deployments with maturity scores of 73.1 and 79.5 out of 100, respectively.  

·         Opportunities lay ahead for manufacturers of heavy equipment to advance their digitalisation plans by closely aligning IT and operational environments. 

·         Enterprises can use a self-assessment tool to measure digital maturity and identify opportunities to achieve operational and ESG goals on their path to the industrial metaverse.  

Nokia and ABI Research announced results of research that highlights the progress and plans for enterprise infrastructure investments in several key sectors. With industry average scores found to be 66 out of 100 for technology maturity and 68.8 for use case deployment maturity, responses showed electronics and appliance manufacturers are forging ahead with scores of 73.1 and 79.5 respectively.  

Technology investments made by enterprises in this sector include the deployment of ruggedised devices to workers, cloud-based warehouse management systems for supply chain and logistics. Digital technologies are being used to support preventative maintenance use cases, data analytics and drones for industrial applications.   

Other findings show key drivers for implementing digitalisation are optimising workforce operations and safety scoring 7.4 out of 10, and supporting the company’s sustainability goals scoring 7.29, which reinforce the need to improve ESG metrics across industries. 

The ‘Industry 4.0 Maturity Index’ delivers key insights from a survey of IT and OT leaders at 500 companies in five key markets. It showcases the Industry 4.0 readiness of Industrial campuses in the chemicals, fabricated metals, petroleum, mining, electronics & appliances, heavy machinery and ports & logistics sectors, and will allow enterprises to benchmark their digitalisation progress on the path toward the industrial metaverse.   

To complement the research findings, Nokia and ABI Research have developed a self-assessment benchmark tool for industries. They can use it to understand how to innovate and advance their digitalisation capabilities toward the industrial metaverse as they incorporate key aspects such as worker safety and automation.   

Michael Larner, Research Director ABI Research, said: “We are seeing a market trend for adopting private 5G in an end-to-end approach. For a successful transformation the need to align IT and operational technology (OT) is clear. IT departments will continue to play an important role in digital transformation using IT to support the delivery of OT the most efficient way.”  

Stephan Litjens, VP of Enterprise Campus Edge business at Nokia, said: “As the global leader in private wireless and industrial edge across an array of industry sectors, we want to simplify and accelerate digital transformation for industries. The industry 4.0 maturity index and self-assessment tool helps industrial campuses to understand where they are and how to progress. We see investments scaling up this year, and this is confirmed by this research that show that industries are, on average, moving closer to aligning IT and OT.”  

Nokia has developed an integrated as-a-service platform that brings together industrial-grade private wireless connectivity and Wi-Fi, with industrial edge compute, industrial devices and ecosystem neutral applications. Enterprises can use it to set their path to the industrial metaverse.     

Nokia will be joined by ABI Research at Hannover Messe in Hall 15, Stand F06 during 17-21 April 2023 to offer insights on the Industry 4.0 Maturity Index. Nokia will present an array of solutions for Industry 4.0 digital transformation for Enterprises.