How can finance help manufacturers embrace Industry 4.0?
Research from Siemens Financial Services (SFS) has shown that digital transformation in manufacturing is no longer a question of “whether” to invest, but rather “when”. Investment requires funding, and few companies want to use up their own precious capital. Smart financing solutions have been designed to enable digital transformation, offering manufacturers a financially sustainable path to ensure business continuity during the current challenging environment.
Key points from the study
- The global investment challenge for smart factory transformation is estimated to be just short of $400 billion over the next five years.
- Digital transformation – to Industry 4.0 platforms – provides manufacturers with an opportunity to gain long-term competitive advantage but requires a substantial investment.
- New financing models are emerging, mainly from manufacturing-specialist financiers, to provide commercially sustainable ways of paying for digital transformation, now and through to future recovery and growth.
- These are often aligned to business outcomes, to integrate financing closely with the expected rate of return-on-investment delivered through the benefits of digitalized technologies.
