Critical Issues
2024/2025 MLC Critical Issues Agenda
Guiding Theme: The Journey to M4.0 Value
The manufacturing industry is at a pivotal point in its history.
Driven by market forces to become more agile, innovative, resilient, cost-efficient, and sustainable, companies of all sizes are pursuing a future vision for business value enabled by digital technologies that will redefine the rules of competition, how work will be performed, how companies will be organized, and how leadership must lead.
We term this future state: Manufacturing 4.0.
Such a comprehensive enterprise-wide transformation requires a three-dimensional approach: mastering the challenges and opportunities of advanced digital tools and data; improving organizational structures and cultures; and developing new workforce talent and leadership skills.
While shaped by company size, sector, and level of digital maturity, all manufacturers share the need for a common set of key M4.0 competencies.
These enable them to drive value from digital investments in critical areas of business activity – from product design and innovation, to supply chains and customer relationships, to more eco-efficient manufacturing operations.
The Manufacturing Leadership Council’s Critical Issues agenda is specifically designed to help manufacturers align their thinking and best practices to deliver true business value from their journey to M4.0.
2024/2025 MLC Critical Issues Agenda Framework
Critical Issues: Areas of Focus
Value Drivers
Smart Factories and Digital Production
- M4.0 roadmaps, maturity models, transformation frameworks and the use of key M4.0 technologies, particularly AI. Modernizing legacy systems to be M4.0-ready.
- End-to-end, contextualized digitalization of manufacturing and supporting processes and functions in centralized or distributed transparent production networks.
- Connected, AI-enabled/augmented workers that enable factory flexibility, productivity, safety, and data-driven insights.
Resilient Supply Networks and Ecosystems
- Digitally enabled supply chains leveraging M4.0, including AI, to improve resiliency, visibility, planning, agility, predictability, and rapid or autonomous response to disruption.
- Collaborative ecosystem best practices for sharing data, insights, and plans across key suppliers/partners/customers.
- Digitally supported business continuity planning, risk management, and organizational preparedness in a trusted, transparent way.
Sustainability and the Circular Economy
- Digital tools that help companies accelerate and deliver Net Zero targets (production, distribution, materials, energy, etc.).
- Key technologies, including AI, to aid the management of ESG metrics, including digital product passports to support the intentional design of products for remanufacture, disassembly, reuse, or recycling at end of life.
- Holistic, sustainable business models and cross-industry ecosystems that drive a more circular industrial economy and help companies manage implications of ESG regulations and compliance.
Value Enablers
Data Governance, Mastery and Analytics
- Operationalizing analytical insights to drive better decision making and empower innovation.
- Latest developments in data analytics, AI, Machine Learning and new analytical technologies.
- Data contextualization, integrity, trust and transparency through data governance, strategy, architectures, ethics, and standards.
Cybersecurity
- Cybersecurity policies, risk management, mitigation, and recovery strategies, including organizational responsibilities between strategy and execution.
- Key technologies, including AI, for stronger cyber protection and defense across production sites, partner networks, smart products.
- Latest developments, guidelines, assessment models, and best practices from cyber standards groups and institutes.
Transformative Technologies
- M4.0 foundational IT, OT, automation, networking architectures.
- Latest developments in key M4.0 technologies such as AI, MES, digital twins, 5G, edge, network architecture, AMG, AMR, collaborative robotics, additive, AR/VR, etc.
- Industrial potential of horizon technologies such as quantum, next-gen network architecture, humanoid robots, and more.
Leadership, Organization, Culture, People
- Digital era leadership visions, skills, behaviors, business acumen, change management, and alignment of digital and business strategies.
- New workforce digital roles and functions as well as digital skills development and certification, empowerment, engagement, talent attractions, diversity, and inclusion.
- Collaborative, cross-functional structures and business cultures.
The MLC’s Critical Issues Process
Since 2010, the Manufacturing Leadership Council’s Critical Issues agenda is the outcome of a unique, annual, member-driven process to identify the most urgent and important issues facing manufacturing companies in the year ahead. Refreshed every year, it is based on extensive consultation with more than 3,500 senior executives and associate members of the Manufacturing Leadership Council and Board of Governors.
The Critical Issues agenda establishes the Manufacturing Leadership Council’s strategic plan, and directly influences all major elements of the MLC’s research program, content focus, events, and services portfolio for the year ahead.
For more information, contact [email protected].