The Western European discrete manufacturing industry continues to struggle with productivity and innovation, which is, in turn, impacting IT demand. As a result, IDC anticipates IT spending to decline by 3.1 per cent to $32 billion in 2003. IT spending in the discrete manufacturing sector is expected to start an upward climb again in 2004 and reach $36.7 billion by 2007 at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.4 per cent.
IT spending patterns will continue to vary according to company size, and for the discrete manufacturing industry, this will continue to have a negative impact on overall IT spending growth.
“The market is made up of a very high percentage of smaller organizations that will be very cautious with future investment overall, as they continue to suffer due to the manufacturing environment,’ says Jennifer Thomson, research manager for the European IT Opportunity: Manufacturing service.” Lower tier companies operating in the automotive, aerospace, and electronics sectors are, in addition, being affected by the decline in spending of larger OEMs.”
However, a selective demand for IT solutions will continue, while the need to return to profitability and revitalize growth is calling for increased efficiency, translating into higher opportunity for: extension and standardization of ERP systems; product design and engineering solutions; collaborative demand planning and forecasting; manufacturing execution systems (among industry-specific applications) to speed up collaboration in the value chain; and supply chain management and product supply chain automation.
IDC believes that there will be some common themes across most of the discrete manufacturing sector, such as increasing the effectiveness of business operations and supply chains. However, it will be important for vendors to develop multiple strategies, depending on which sub-industry is targeted, as demand for IT solutions in 2003 and over the forecast period will be selective, depending on the priorities and challenges prevalent.
2003-06-12
Em Foco – Projecto