Smart Industry Forum: Incorporating New Technologies To Manufacturing

There are a lot of new technologies that are being incorporated into a lot of industries, with the world slowly transitioning to everyday use of these technologies. Talking of technological advancements like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), among others; these are technologies that seemed so far away a mere 5 years ago.

The manufacturing sector is also catching up to speed with this technological revolution and slowly transitioning into the new digital era. In the manufacturing industry, this transition is Industry 4.0, or rather the 4th Industrial Revolution. In this light, African technology trendsetter, dx5, held the 2024 edition of the Smart Industry forum as tech players in manufacturing discussed on how to navigate the transition.

The event featured an array of speakers who are playing different roles in the journey to realize smart industries. The speakers included the CIO, Unga Group, Isaac Mwangi; the CIO, Car and General, Gilbert Mutai; Group CIO, CISO, Dangote Group (NG), Prasanna Burri; IOT Solutions Manager, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Naom Kerubo; IT Manager, Industrial and Medical Gases Nigeria Plc, Nurudeen Papoola; and the Head of ICT/CIO, Ketepa Ltd, Benard Rono.

The topics of discussions revolved around incorporating the new technologies into manufacturing, that is where the industry is at, what the transition journey entails, and what needs to be done in the future. The panel discussion featuring Isaac Mwangi, Gilbert Mutai, and Naom Kerubo; moderated by Carol Odero, the head of Content Africa at dx5, discussed on how to harness these technologies to transform the manufacturing sector.

Speaking at the panel discussion, Gilbert Mutai, talked about the three key things that will help in this transformation journey, which are; people, processes and technology. He went on to say that the technology is here already and the industry is working on the other two to ensure a smooth transition to the digital age of manufacturing.

Isaac Mwangi talked about the fear of being replaced by technology assuring the people working in that industry that Africa is still far away from being completely replaced by devices. He also compared the new industries to the existing ones saying that the former are coming in with the technologies already embedded in their culture while the latter is having to train people on how to use the technologies and assure them that the technology is not here to replace them.

Still on the subject matter of being replaced by machines, Gilbert Mutai, emphasized that there is no technology that can work without the human element so getting replaced by machines should not really be the discussion or the worry.

Prasanna Burri did a presentation on ‘Harnessing Digital Transformation for Sustainable Growth in Africa’s Industrial Sector’ while Nurudeen Papoola did one on ‘The Future of Smart Manufacturing in Africa’ and Bernard Rono did a case study presentation about ‘How Big Data Enhanced Customer Experience and Boosted Sales’.

As the world is going through the digital transformation journey, the manufacturing sector, is also working to migrate to the digital era. Digital transformation covers all the industry and the journey can only be successful if technology is given priority to the solution of our day to day problems.