Covid-19 to accelerate investment in industrial autonomy – Yokogawa Survey
Published on : Friday 18-09-2020
Two-thirds of process industry companies anticipating fully autonomous operations by 2030.
Tokyo, September 16, 2020 – Yokogawa Electric Corporation has revealed the results of a global end-user survey on the outlook for industrial autonomy, which shows that 64% of respondents from companies in process industries are anticipating fully autonomous operations by 2030. The survey provides an in-depth view of future trends in automation and autonomy, business priorities, and technologies being deployed in key process industries including oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, petrochemicals, and power generation. Yokogawa survey finds 64% of respondents from process industry companies are anticipating fully autonomous operations by 2030, with Covid-19 accelerating investment in industrial autonomy.
Sixty-four per cent of respondents stated that they expect to reach autonomous operations in their primary operations by 2030. Eighty-nine percent said their companies currently have plans to increase the level of autonomy in their operations. Regarding their current status, 64% said that they are conducting or are piloting semi-autonomous or autonomous operations, while 67% expect significant automation of most decision-making processes in plant operations by 2023.
Cyber security (51%), cloud, analytics, and big data (47%), and artificial intelligence (42%) are three key areas in which companies are planning significant investment over the next three years. These will enable organizations to make better decisions across a greater span of control.
Covid-19 has put the brakes on economic growth in 2020 but will be a catalyst for the medium- to long-term growth of industrial autonomy.
The survey also uncovered significant differences across industries in post-Covid-19 investment priorities. For example, compared with other industries, conventional power generation and chemical/petrochemical participants placed a greater focus on investments in worker safety.
The survey highlight report can be downloaded from the following website: https://www.yokogawa.com/special/ia2ia/outlook/