Manufacturing Leadership's New "Critical Issues" Focus on Manufacturing 4.0

Manufacturing Leadership Council identifies six critical issues highlighting the industry's "Journey to Manufacturing 4.0"

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, Oct. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan's Manufacturing Leadership Council (MLC), a member-driven global business network for senior industrial executives, identified six new critical issues facing the manufacturing industry for the year ahead.

This year, the MLC's Critical Issues Agenda is organized around the key theme, "The Journey to Manufacturing 4.0".

"The MLC's decision to embrace Manufacturing 4.0 as its direction for the future reflects a powerful ambition to use advanced technologies to take manufacturing to a new, game-changing level," said Co-founder, Global Vice President and Editorial Director of the Manufacturing Leadership Council, David R. Brousell. "The opportunity to use information to speed and tailor production, engage more intimately with customers, and create new products and services previously unimagined, is almost limitless. Now, the challenge for manufacturing executives is to lead their companies into this brighter future."

Theme: The Journey to Manufacturing 4.0

The global manufacturing industry is entering an era of radical change. Driven by new transformative cyber-physical technologies, manufacturing companies around the world now envision a future state for the manufacturing industry that will change the rules of competition, how work will be performed, how companies will be organized, and how leadership must lead.

Characterized by highly intelligent, agile, information-driven factories able to respond rapidly to change, connected sensor networks and advanced data analytics, and entirely new, customized smart products and services, Manufacturing 4.0 promises to touch every function and aspect of the manufacturing enterprise – from the plant floor, to leadership roles and business models.

The MLC's new Critical Issues Agenda is designed to help manufacturers align their thinking and practices for a successful journey to Manufacturing 4.0.

The six critical issues for 2015/2016, and their key areas of focus, are the following.

Factories of the Future

Transformative Technologies in Manufacturing

The Innovative Manufacturing Enterprise

Cybersecurity in Manufacturing

Next Generation Manufacturing Leadership

The Changing Manufacturing Workforce

The Manufacturing Leadership Council's annual Critical Issues Agenda is the result of a unique member-driven process that identifies the most urgent and important issues facing the global manufacturing industry in the year ahead. It is based on extensive consultation with more than 200 senior executives and associate members of the Manufacturing Leadership Council and Board of Governors.

The new Critical Issues Agenda also establishes the Manufacturing Leadership Council's strategic plan for the year, directly influencing all major elements of the Council's research, content, events and services portfolio.

For more details of the new Critical Issues Agenda, please visit: http://bit.ly/1KaBGCm.

About The Manufacturing Leadership Council

The Manufacturing Leadership Council (MLC), part of Frost and Sullivan, is the world's foremost member-driven, global business leadership network dedicated to senior executives in the manufacturing industry. The Council's vision is to enable manufacturers to realize a better future by focusing on the intersection of critical business and technology issues that will drive growth for themselves, their organizations, and the industry at large. The MLC produces an extensive portfolio of leadership networking, information and professional development products, programs, and services including the Manufacturing Leadership Community Website, an online global business network with over 7,400 members around the world; the Manufacturing Leadership Council, an invitation-only executive organization of over 200 members; the annual Manufacturing Leadership Summit; the annual Manufacturing Leadership Awards celebrating industry achievement and innovation; the thought-leading industry publication, the Manufacturing Leadership Journal; plus extensive social media communities reaching more than 30,000 industry professionals. To inquire about MLC membership, please visit www.frost.com/mlc.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. Frost & Sullivan's "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

For more than 50 years, Frost & Sullivan has been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. http://www.frost.com.

Contact:

Mireya Espinoza
Corporate Communications
P: +1-210.247.3870
E: [email protected]