2020 has been a year that we will not soon forget, filled with unimaginable change caused by the pandemic. The manufacturing industry witnessed a sea change: a significant disruption in terms of business continuity, operational visibility, remote work, employee safety, and the list goes on. However, businesses have responded and are continually adapting as we…Read more
Microsoft’s cloud supply chain is on a journey to digitize and financialize core inventory assets and achieve unique item traceability. To advance on this path, we’ve developed innovative blockchain solutions to drive down supply chain costs, increase visibility, and lay the foundation for mine-to-datacenter traceability. We are announcing that Microsoft’s cloud supply chain received one…Read more
The first quarter of 2021 has seen an unprecedented supply crunch for semiconductors. These tiny electronic workhorses – invaluable in everything from computers and cars to cash registers and kitchen appliances – have become almost impossible for some industry sectors to find. Wait times after an order is placed have soared to 15 and even…Read more
Another year of Hannover Messe is now behind us. While we missed the personal interactions we all value, one thing is clear: The thought leadership, the new ideas, and the excitement for innovation remain as strong as ever across the industry….Read more
Its been a challenging year for manufacturers, but also an exciting one, as they’ve been able to respond and adapt by accelerating their digital transformation journeys—and as you’ll hear from Microsoft leaders, customers, and partners at Hannover Messe 2021: Digital Edition—the benefits of digitalization are no longer questioned, it’s now about accelerating time to value,…Read more
Since we started the Azure Industrial IoT team six years ago, one topic that tends to dominate the business decision-maker meetings I’ve participated in: vendor lock-in. Vendor lock-in is the inability to pick the best solution and instead be forced to pick the solution from a vendor you have used in the past to maintain…Read more
This blog has been co-authored with Yury Gomez, Business Strategy Leader, WW Manufacturing While the manufacturing industry has long been one of the leaders driving digital innovation, helping to fuel growth and redefine efficiencies, today’s disruptions—whether these are travel restrictions, increased health & safety precautions, or a new world of modern work—are challenging the traditional approaches used to facilitate agile process…Read more
It’s been two years since we last invited you to join us at Hannover Messe in Germany, where we mingled with 220,000 of our manufacturing colleagues from around the world to share and explore the leadership and innovations on display. Since then we’ve built on our theme of augmenting human intelligence from Hannover Messe 2019, helping manufacturers accelerate their digital…Read more
Filled with unimaginable change caused by the pandemic, the manufacturing industry witnessed a perfect storm: a significant disruption in terms of business continuity, operational visibility, remote work, employee safety, and the list goes on. However, manufacturers have responded and are continually adapting as we all go through the recovery process. To help you accelerate this journey, announcing the Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing, available for public preview…Read more
Can digitization address the manufacturing skills gap and worker safety? Even before the pandemic, manufacturing has been changing so quickly that it can be difficult for your workforce to keep up. In fact, Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute had estimated that up to 2.4 million US manufacturing jobs could remain unfilled between 2018 and 2028 because of a lack of adequate skills.1 According to a Deloitte…Read more
Introduction “Many new technologies have transformed the supply chain industry over the years; however, persistent problems remained, such as lack of traceability, especially for raw materials, and a lack of trust in data across parties. Our team has applied a new blockchain-based solution to solve these and many other supply chain challenges across our cloud…Read more
The global marketplace is evolving rapidly, and the ability to adapt is a defining factor between manufacturers that merely survive, and those that thrive. As rising costs, supply chain issues, skills gaps, and challenges related to COVID-19 escalate, manufacturers must look to intelligent cloud and intelligent edge solutions to build smart, agile factories. Internet of…Read more
