Transformation Begins for Manufacturing Industry

Manufacturing is undergoing an unprecedented, radical transformation as consumer expectations and technology trends converge. Consumers’ expectations from products have risen: they want to know more about the products they are buying and also want the ability to customize their purchases. Products have become “smarter” therefore, with sensors connected to platforms and applications that generate real time data and analysis. As a result, manufacturing is no longer confined to the product alone, but involves supplying an extended chain of associated goods and services that together make up the end product, which may be closer to an experience. The line between hardware and software is blurring, and as consumers demand greater product differentiation to meet increasingly exacting tastes and needs, the line between production and consumption will get blurred as well.

These trends will impact every part of the manufacturing industry in significant ways. In China, the trend towards intelligent manufacturing, digital production, and the “Internet of Things” (IoT) will transform how value is created and distributed along the entire supply chain.

Ricky Tung
Deloitte China Partner | National Manufacturing Industry Co-leader

Jill Qu
Manufacturing Industry Researcher