Technology Record - Issue 22: Autumn 2021

139 MANU FAC TUR I NG & R E SOUR C E S “Microsoft and our partners can help manufacturers connect the dots across their operations, workforce, design and engineering processes, customer engagements, and the end-to-end value chain” growth: 53 per cent are seeing ‘measurable and marked’ environmental sustainability benefits. “Measures yielding productivity improvements are actually driving resource efficiency gains tied to environmentally conscious impact,” the report notes. “Companies discovering this com- patibility and making the most of it are realising dual benefits simultaneously: cost reduction and increased sustainability.” Johnson & Johnson, a global manufacturer of medical devices, pharmaceutical products and consumer packaged goods, currently has more WEF Lighthouse factories than any other com- pany. It recently achieved its first ever carbon dioxide-neutral facility by using smart energy management, automated systems and green tech- nology installations at one of its biggest self-care product plants. At the same time, overall equip- ment effectiveness increased by 14 per cent thanks to the use of robotic apps, while using digital twins for product development simplified the supply chain, reducing the cost of goods by 20 per cent. Having a real-time digital backbone that supports fast, connected data flow through everything the company does also meant that, as the pandemic hit, Johnson & Johnson’s pharma- ceutical arm was able to develop, test and scale up its Covid-19 vaccine from zero manufactur- ing to 100 million doses in the space of a quarter. “If we’re not creating a cleaner environment, an environment that is more sustainable, then we’re not fulfilling our mission about improving healthcare and people’s lives around the world,” Alex Gorsky, CEO of Johnson & Johnson, told Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a recent inter- view. “It takes a holistic approach, fundamentally