Towards innoefficiency
The future of manufacturing in the West looks promising, but it asks for substantial changes in its current model in order to succeed. We need to reestablish an economy that can keep going beyond relying on mere services (which do not create wealth in difficult situations, but actually suck resources when they are available).
We need a smarter industry, more efficient, more innovative, developing products in more agile ways, taking the most out of the technologies available at the moment. The new buzz word could perhaps be innoefficiency: the combination of innovation and efficiency.
New robots, like Baxter, can be critical in the years to come for this purpose, since it brings low-cost automation to any industry, regardless of its size. The small and medium enterprises have a very important role in the future of Europe ; making them more efficient and innovative is the way to go. It is our responsibility.
There are thousands of SMEs that achieve excellence by focusing on a niche (such as drones or unmanned aircraft), or by rethinking the value proposal of their product (as the manufacturer of pipes that can be bent in more extreme forms).
What types of manufacturing can we expect to flourish in the coming years in our latitudes? Can it be that the recent crisis of the conventional industry and the mainstream consumer models that we have had for decades, shift into more sophisticated and effective models? Manufacturing matters!
