Zebra study: wearables are on the rise

Globalization, increased competition and rising customer demands require factories to be increasingly networked - and the manufacturing companies surveyed also recognize this necessity. According to the study by Zebra Technologies, the number of manufacturers with fully networked factories will increase significantly over the next five years.

The results at a glance

• Manufacturing companies will continue to drive Industry 4.0 and the transformation to the smart factory. With the help of RFID, wearables, automated systems and new technologies, employees will monitor the physical processes in factories. This will enable companies to make decentralized decisions. By 2022, 64% of manufacturing companies expect their factories to be fully networked, compared to only 43% at present.
• Half of manufacturing companies are planning to introduce wearable technology by 2022. 55% of companies that already use wearables intend to expand their use over the next five years.
• Manual processes will decrease significantly. Today, 62% still use pen and paper to control important production steps. According to the study, only one in five companies will still use this method by 2022, as the use of pen and paper to track work in progress is inefficient and error-prone.
• Executives in all regions named quality assurance as a top priority for the next five years. Forward-thinking companies are focusing on high-quality products to improve growth, throughput and profitability. They are confident that improvements on the manufacturer and supplier side will increase the quality of finished products: Only 34 percent expect quality issues to be their main concern in 2022.
• The majority of manufacturers surveyed are convinced that investing in the transparency of operational processes will promote company growth. For 63%, the focus is on tracking through a combination of different technologies (e.g. barcodes, RFID and real-time tracking systems).
• 51% of the companies surveyed plan to expand their use of voice technology over the next five years. The largest companies (with a turnover of more than 1 billion dollars per year) expect the highest increase in usage: 55% of them plan to use voice technology in 2022.

"Manufacturers have recognized the opportunities of the Industrial Internet of Things and are investing heavily in technologies that enable smarter, connected factories and thus greater transparency and higher quality."

Jeff Schmitz, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Zebra Technologies