The manufacturing sector has demonstrated continued strength in 2022 and surpassed expectations despite supply headwinds, labour shortages and an uncertain economic environment. The sector is building back fast, emerging from the pandemic, eying growth despite turbulences with a positive trajectory for 2023. The worldwide recovery gained momentum last year following the rising demand, industrial production and capacity utilization surpassed pre-pandemic levels midyear, with strong increases in new orders.
As leaders look beyond leading amid disruption and revamp their approach, Manufacturing Today queried their outlook and the trends to look out for in 2023.
Gulshan Kaushik, Senior Vice President – Customer Success, Bizongo
How automation has led to easier attainment of sustainability goals: When it comes to attaining sustainability goals, automation has allowed businesses to streamline their operations, reducing resource consumption and waste. Automation has enabled smart manufacturing processes and technologies to reduce waste and increase overall efficiency in the manufacturing sector. This has resulted in a reduction in resource consumption, energy usage, and waste products, making reaching sustainability goals for many industries easier. In addition, automation has enabled companies to manage their supply chains better, reducing the need to transport goods, which can significantly reduce their carbon footprint. It has also allowed companies to become more proactive in their sustainability efforts and identify areas where they can improve. Automation has been a significant factor in helping businesses easily reach their sustainability goals, and companies can accelerate their commitments to building and maintaining a cleaner, greener planet.
Automation trends to rule the market in 2023: Automation is a major game-changer in the coming years. In 2023, automation trends will dominate the market and revolutionize businesses’ operations. Automation is already having a major impact on the manufacturing and B2B sectors, and this trend will only continue. It revolutionises the manufacturing industry, allowing faster and more efficient production while reducing labour costs. In addition, there is a major impact in the B2B sector, as businesses are using automation to streamline their processes and provide customers with a better experience. From inventory management and logistics to customer service, automation is expected to make things easier and more efficient, making it easier and faster to get goods to customers. Also, with 5G coming into the picture, the manufacturers will have the advantage of cutting-edge technologies to build a smart manufacturing ecosystem. 2023 is also expected to witness the penetration of IoT into several industries like home automation, healthcare, and devices coming up with embedded internet. Overall, automation will revolutionize how businesses operate by achieving greater accuracy and consistency, driving overall market growth.
Anjan Kalyani, Country Head and Area Vice President, Anaplan India
“The way the rest of the world views India’s capabilities in the global supply chain has radically changed during the past ten years. India is a desirable location for multinational enterprises and a significant player in the global supply chain market. As markets make efforts to tackle the key challenges faced in the sector, such as supply disruptions, the impending recession, rising costs for material, labour, and capacity, climatic and geo-political issues, and cybersecurity threats, I see the following trends taking centre stage as India becomes a global leader in manufacturing and supply chain.
- End-to-end manufacturing cloud solutions will be a major trend in 2023, with cloud technology at the forefront, as new capabilities that enable secure connection of people, assets, workflow, and business processes will enable businesses to be more resilient
- Industry 4.0’s increased use of automation technology will accelerate the adoption of AI/ML, IoT, and Digital Twin in factories, particularly for predictive maintenance
- Interconnectivity for efficient distributed supply chains as manufacturers transition from B2B to B2C. This would do away with the inconveniences caused by middlemen
- A major priority of supply chain leaders will be utilising sustainable approaches in production and procurement. The focus will be on more government action to encourage industries to pay close attention to greenhouse gas emissions
The supply chain developments listed above will be greatly influenced and led by technology as 2023 draws closer. Companies must strategize and develop new technical approaches to enable complete supply chain management, execution, predictive analysis, and data analysis if they want to remain competitive.”
Ankit Mittal, Co-founder and CEO of Sheru
“India’s EV industry has seen impressive growth in 2022. With both established players and new entrants releasing a slew of products, EVs have gained acceptance from both personal users and businesses, and the numbers reflect that. From less than 1.5% of overall sales in November 2021, e-2 wheelers have been consistently over 4% from July 2022 and are expected to cross monthly sales of 1 lakh units in 2023. 3-wheelers, especially in the passenger vehicle segment, have seen 50% of all sales be electric variants throughout 2022. 2023 will see the consistent rise of 2-wheelers and the continuing domination of 3-wheelers. The 4-wheeler segment has been seeing steady growth, albeit from a low base. With increasing choices for consumers, the proliferation of the charging ecosystem, and advances in technology, we expect EVs across categories to grow in absolute numbers and corner a larger share of overall sales in the next year. The EV industry’s rapid growth over the last few years will continue in 2023. Across vehicle segments, EVs have seen strong demand and supply is only catching up to it. With the launch of more vehicles, technology improvements, and the charging ecosystem’s proliferation, we expect 2023 to be another stellar year for the EV industry in India. 2-wheelers and 3-wheelers will continue to make up India’s lion’s share of EV sales. EVs were almost at or above 50% of all 3-wheelers in India in every month of 2022, and their dominance will increase in 2023. Electric 2-wheelers will continue to be the largest segment of EVs in India by volume, and their share of overall 2-wheelers will rise. The safety of EVs will continue to be a priority on the policy front. 2022 saw a number of regulations come into place to ensure greater stringency in battery safety, and the implementation of those norms will be closely watched in 2023. The EV ecosystem will continue to proliferate in 2023, with charging infrastructure being a focus area. Range anxiety is a concern for EVs, and the government, as well as private players, are looking to bridge that gap”
Nitin Kapoor, Managing Director of Saera Electric Auto Private Limited
“FY 21-22, the Electric Vehicle total registrations stood at 1.66 lacs units; this was surpassed in the first six months itself in FY 22-23 itself. The total sales registered this FY 22-23 YTD ( April to Nov) stood at 242.5 K units increase w.r.t by 161.8 % previous year. Last-mile connectivity demand has increased substantially, and demand is now being seen not only in Tier 1 cities but also in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The E Mobility mission of 2030, whereby it is expected that Electric three-wheelers should reach 80 % penetration levels of total Three Wheeler sales in the Country. Currently, we have seen the Electric Three Wheeler segment being the fastest growing segment as far as penetration of EV is concerned. The contribution of electric vehicles to the total 3 W for the period April 22 to Nov 22 is 54 % and we expect in 2023, this will reach 65- 70 %. In 2022, Increasing automation and digitalisation have revolutionised other industries. The longstanding challenges of the industry need new solutions in 2023. This will lead to several product rollouts in the EV segment in 2023. Many EV manufacturing companies brought in low-cost technologies in 2022. 2023 will be all about a growing surge in investments into these technologies. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a major trend that dominates the current market.
Many EV manufacturing players are still looking for ways to use AI effectively. In 2023, there is a high chance that we will witness the EV segment warming up to the Internet of Things (IoT). In 2023, improved battery tech will be a major step in increasing the demand for electric vehicles. We need to make the production of electric vehicles quicker and more efficient. In 2022 many EV policies have disrupted the EV industry. Multiple EV production-linked incentive schemes intend to create a local manufacturing ecosystem to support goals around greater EV adoption. This will be achieved by incentivizing fresh investments into developing indigenous supply chains for key technologies and products. We look forward to the EV battery safety norms implemented from March 2023 and how the industry will prepare to implement this policy.”