All News & Insights

When a factory tour begins with stops in the Today Room and Tomorrow Room, it’s clearly not a business-as-usual tour. That’s how many of the participants at the MLC’s latest factory tour started their experience when the capacity crowd visited The Smart Factory @ Wichita.

What they saw: Hosted by Deloitte and Infor, participants were shepherded through a tour of the showcase factory and visits with representatives from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Dragos, Infor, and Siemens. These sessions covered advanced manufacturing techniques, cybersecurity, cloud data analysis, Internet of Things, digital twins and more. Along the way, the tour group experienced a look at how Manufacturing 4.0 is shifting what is possible on a factory floor and in the control center.

The factory tour began with a visit to the Today Room where participants heard about and saw the history of manufacturing. The tour then transitioned to the Tomorrow Room where, like something out of an amusement park, participants were invited to interact with a display table that showed advancements that are coming soon. From there, visitors moved into the heart of the tour where they saw M4.0 technology in action, and perhaps made a quick pitstop for a coffee brewed by the Smart Factory’s robotic barista.

The last stop on the tour was a visit to the control center where real-time data is synthesized and displayed related to The Smart Factory operation and Deloitte’s other immersive manufacturing experiences in Kyoto, Japan and Dusseldorf, Germany. The control center also served as an opportunity to showcase various systems within The Smart Factory’s ecosystem and how they work together.

A fully functional factory showcase: The Smart Factory @ Wichita is located on the Wichita State University Innovation Campus, and provides visitors with a completely immersive experience that brings smart manufacturing applications to life. Housed in a net-zero building, The Smart Factory is powered by a smart grid and manufactures science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) kits that are made of 100% recycled PET (RPET). The STEM kits, called Smart Rovers, are created in collaboration between Deloitte, Elenco Electronics and AWS, and will be donated to schools across the U.S. with the goal of inspiring the next generation of innovators.

M4.0 Discussion: The event concluded with a discussion featuring panelists Jason Bergstrom (Deloitte), Dave Kang (Dragos), Ken Hall (Siemens), Clint Schneider (AWS), and John Shorter (Infor). Moderated by Penelope Brown, the MLC’s senior content director, panelists discussed customer value, cutting through the noise, strategies for implementing and scaling M4.0, upgrading brownfield facilities, lights-out manufacturing, and the importance of communication, culture, data, and integration across the entire business.

As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.

Think your business is safe from hackers? You could be wrong, according to the Manufacturing Leadership Council—the division of the NAM focused on digital transformation in manufacturing.

With the incidence of ransomware attacks against manufacturers on the rise, all businesses should be on guard against cyber extortion, advises Peter Vescuso, vice president of marketing at industrial cybersecurity provider Dragos and a member of the Manufacturing Leadership Council.

How it works: Ransomware schemes often target manufacturers by disabling their operations technology and blackmailing victims into paying to restore the functionality of their systems. Manufacturers that cannot afford to have production halted by hacks often have no choice but to pay the hackers’ ransom.

What we’re seeing: Industrial ransomware attacks increased significantly in 2021, with criminal groups specifically identifying manufacturers as vulnerable and profitable targets.

• Last year, manufacturing accounted for 65% of industrial ransomware incidents, according to Dragos.
• The top three manufacturing subsectors targeted by ransomware attacks were metal components (17%), automotive (8%) and plastics/technology (6%).
• Manufacturers as a group were targeted six times as often as the second leading industrial sector, food and beverage.

Why it matters: Many manufacturers remain unprepared for ransomware attacks.

• About 90% of manufacturers have limited visibility into their OT systems, according to Dragos.
• 90% of manufacturers are also ill prepared with poor network perimeters, 80% have external connectivity exposure in their OT systems and 60% use shared credentials that make it easier for ransomware groups to infiltrate systems.

Who’s behind it: In 2021, ransomware groups Conti and Lockbit 2.0 caused 51% of all ransomware attacks, and 70% of their attacks targeted manufacturers.

• These groups successfully developed malicious business models and used underground marketplaces to outsource operations to partners who then carried out the attacks.
• Ransomware groups also fund research and development to stay ahead of the curve on security and infiltrate systems.

What’s next: “Ransomware trends are likely to continue shifting as groups reform and reprioritize and as law enforcement pursues them and takes them offline,” says Vescuso.

• “As this evolution continues to evolve, Dragos analysts believe with a high degree of certainty that ransomware will continue to disrupt all industrial operations and OT environments through 2022, in manufacturing and beyond.”

Protect yourself: To protect against ransomware attacks, manufacturers must take the necessary steps to modernize and secure their IT and OT systems. Check out NAM Cyber Cover for information and risk management solutions.

Manufacturing Leadership Journal content and MLC resources are exclusively available to MLC members. Please sign up for an account or log in to view this content.

Manufacturing Leadership Journal content and MLC resources are exclusively available to MLC members. Please sign up for an account or log in to view this content.

Manufacturing Leadership Journal content and MLC resources are exclusively available to MLC members. Please sign up for an account or log in to view this content.

Manufacturing Leadership Journal content and MLC resources are exclusively available to MLC members. Please sign up for an account or log in to view this content.

How is digitization changing manufacturing? What can manufacturers do to stay competitive in a fast-shifting world? What does the future look like—and how can leaders prepare for success?

Those are the kinds of questions being asked and answered by the NAM’s Manufacturing Leadership Council—a member-driven global business leadership network focused on the intersection of manufacturing and technology. We spoke with David R. Brousell, MLC co-founder, vice president and executive director, who gave us more insight into what the MLC is, how it works and why it matters today more than ever.

An early start: The idea for the MLC was born nearly two decades ago, when manufacturers began turning to consumer technologies to strengthen their businesses.

• The convergence of these technologies with traditional operational technologies on factory floors sparked an idea. Brousell, who was running a publication called “Managing Automation,” recognized the trend—which he called “Progressive Manufacturing”—and founded an annual conference for manufacturers to discuss new approaches and best practices for the future.
• By 2008, that conference had given rise to a council designed to offer useful programming for manufacturers on the future of digitization. Ten years later, the council became a part of the NAM.
• “We realized that digitization was not a tactical or small change—it was a fundamental change in the industry,” said Brousell. “It was clear that manufacturers needed an informational resource or organization to bring them together to deal with what we now call Manufacturing 4.0 in a systematic way.”

A systematic approach: Today, the MLC represents what Brousell calls “the digital transformation arm of the NAM,” helping manufacturers meet future needs and address ongoing trends—through changes in technology, organization and leadership.

• “The transition to the digital model of manufacturing is only one part technical,” said Brousell. “The harder part is changing the organizational structure to be more collaborative and decentralized and making the leadership approach digital-first. We’re probably the only organization that has looked at it this way, in a systematic way, beyond technology alone.”

A critical focus: Every year, the MLC lays out a member-approved set of critical issues involved in the transition to Manufacturing 4.0 and offers resources and programming from thought leadership to plant tours to the Rethink Summit.

• This year’s critical issues include topics like factories of the future; transformative technologies, including AI and machine learning; augmented reality and virtual reality; Manufacturing 4.0 cultures; and cybersecurity.

A broad view: Digitization isn’t just an issue for individual manufacturers. Because manufacturing is so vital to economic and societal growth, it’s also important to the future of the United States and the world.

• “Manufacturing is one of the fundamental drivers of social and economic prosperity,” said Brousell. “Its growth will lead to a better life for people. No other industry can say that. And I believe that the countries whose companies are most successful in making the transition to the digital model are going to be the powers of this century. There’s a lot riding on this.”

Sign up: Come learn from leading manufacturers at the Rethink Summit, June 27–29, in Marco Island, Florida. It’s the premier event for senior operational executives and their teams as they continue to navigate disruption.

Manufacturing Leadership Journal content and MLC resources are exclusively available to MLC members. Please sign up for an account or log in to view this content.

Manufacturing Leadership Journal content and MLC resources are exclusively available to MLC members. Please sign up for an account or log in to view this content.

Manufacturing Leadership Journal content and MLC resources are exclusively available to MLC members. Please sign up for an account or log in to view this content.