The Record - Issue 18: Autumn 2020

54 www. t e c h n o l o g y r e c o r d . c om and machine intelligence, while allowing man- ufacturers to revolutionise their factories, build modern and inclusive workplaces, and optimise efficiencies for better customer experiences. For example, mixed reality capabilities includ- ing HoloLens and Dynamics 365 Guides enable inexperienced workers to learn more quickly by simulating real-world experiences. This kind of immersive on-the-job training has meant that staff can be educated much faster, they can retain information much longer, and they can execute complex jobs more safely. For our aging work- ers, we can keep them in the workforce longer by making their expertise available virtually wherever it is needed with the affordability and efficiency of autonomous systems and collabo- rative robots. We are helping manufacturers reskill and empower their existing workforce with tools like Microsoft 365 to accelerate an intelligent workplace and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist to enable workers to fix equipment faster with the help of remote experts, decreasing factory floor downtime. Lastly, new industry training such as Microsoft’s AI Business School helps companies learn how to strategically apply AI to transform their business and their culture. With so much change, can you give us some predictions for the year ahead? The world around us is already changing at a meteoric pace – and we are only at the begin- ning of what is possible. When I look ahead, I see five key areas that will continue to disrupt and mature the industry: 1. We will continue to see AI drive the biggest opportunities and impact as more organisations promote adoption from proof-of-concepts to full-scale applications. AI is key to accelerating our crisis recovery, from empowering the new workplace, to moving supply chains closer to home, to enabling safer factories, to bringing autonomy and intelligence to industrial control systems to achieve ‘remote everything’. 2. As 5G technology becomes more ubiquitous, it will make a tremendous impact on industrial automation, providing new levels of connectiv- ity, real-time communication, automation and factory uptime on a scale not seen before. 3. Digital twins will continue to evolve rapidly, and we will see more and more dimensions of twins emerge, allowing us to – quite literally – predict the future. 4. From capabilities such as product authen- tication, to complete track-and-trace across the supply chain, to real-time negotiation and auditing, to the prevention of IP theft, block- chain will continue to revolutionise the way we think about exchanging value, data and assets across industries. 5. Sustainable manufacturing will continue to be a growing priority as manufacturers design for economically-sound processes throughout the end-to-end value chain, working to eliminate waste and engineer better outcomes for their businesses and more value for their customers. We will be there every step of the way, navigat- ing these changes and sharing our learnings with our customers, our partners, our communities and our industries. Together, we will continue to break new ground in the manufacturing, co-creating landmark innovations and customer experiences as we navigate the road to recovery. Together, we will manufacture a better future. And I am privileged to be a part of it. E X E CUT I V E I NT E R V I EW “Together, we will manufacture a better future”