Zebra's Industry Solutions can give your business a competitive advantage by connecting people, assets and data to help you make better decisions.
Scale and energise your retail strategy with a digital backbone that unifies your team, informs priorities and drives results with Zebra's retail technology solutions.
Zebra's healthcare technology solutions provide patient identity management, mobile health devices, and business intelligence data to improve efficiency.
Zebra’s manufacturing technology solutions enable manufacturers to become more agile, optimise plant floor performance and embrace market changes.
Zebra's market-leading solutions and products improve customer satisfaction with a lower cost per interaction by keeping service representatives connected with colleagues, customers, management and the tools they use to satisfy customers across the supply chain.
In today's world, the demands on transportation and logistics companies are higher than ever. Dedicated Warehouse, Fleet and Delivery, and Yard and Terminal solutions enable visibility to every aspect of your business and keep operations running flawlessly around the clock.
Zebra's hospitality technology solutions equip your hotel and restaurant staff to deliver superior customer and guest service through inventory tracking and more.
Empower your field workers with purpose-driven mobile technology solutions to help them capture and share critical data in any environment.
Technology is a key enabler in helping the Public Sector provide their frontline and back office workers automate business process and assets with a digital voice.
Zebra’s mobile computing, scanning, and printing solutions connect each operational area in your warehouse to give you the agility to realize transformational gains.
Zebra's range of mobile computers equip your workforce with the devices they need from handhelds and tablets to wearables and vehicle-mounted computers.
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Zebra's 1D and 2D corded and cordless barcode scanners anticipate any scanning challenge in a variety of environments, whether retail, healthcare, T&L or manufacturing.
Zebra's extensive range of RAIN RFID readers, antennas, and printers give you consistent and accurate tracking.
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Zebra's location technologies provide real-time tracking for your organisation to better manage and optimise your critical assets and create more efficient workflows.
Zebra's rugged tablets and 2-in-1 laptops are thin and lightweight, yet rugged to work wherever you do on familiar and easy-to-use Windows or Android OS.
With Zebra's family of fixed industrial scanners and machine vision technologies, you can tailor your solutions to your environment and applications.
Zebra’s line of kiosks can meet any self-service or digital signage need, from checking prices and stock on an in-aisle store kiosk to fully-featured kiosks that can be deployed on the wall, counter, desktop or floor in a retail store, hotel, airport check-in gate, physician’s office, local government office and more.
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Zebra's environmental sensors monitor temperature-sensitive products, offering data insights on environmental conditions across industry applications.
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Drive down costs while driving up employee, security, and network performance with software designed to enhance Zebra's wireless infrastructure and mobile solutions.
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Make the most of every stage of your scanning journey from deployment to optimization. Zebra's barcode scanner software lets you keep devices current and adapt them to your business needs for a stronger ROI across the full lifecycle.
RFID development, demonstration and production software and utilities help you build and manage your RFID deployments more efficiently.
RFID development, demonstration and production software and utilities help you build and manage your RFID deployments more efficiently.
Zebra DNA is the industry’s broadest suite of enterprise software that delivers an ideal experience for all during the entire lifetime of every Zebra device.
Advance your digital transformation and execute your strategic plans with the help of the right location and tracking technology.
The Zebra Aurora suite of machine vision software enables users to solve their track-and-trace, vision inspection and industrial automation needs.
Zebra Aurora Focus brings a new level of simplicity to controlling enterprise-wide manufacturing and logistics automation solutions. With this powerful interface, it’s easy to set up, deploy and run Zebra’s Fixed Industrial Scanners and Machine Vision Smart Cameras, eliminating the need for different tools and reducing training and deployment time.
Aurora Imaging Library™, formerly Matrox Imaging Library, machine-vision software development kit (SDK) has a deep collection of tools for image capture, processing, analysis, annotation, display, and archiving. Code-level customization starts here.
Aurora Design Assistant™, formerly Matrox Design Assistant, integrated development environment (IDE) is a flowchart-based platform for building machine vision applications, with templates to speed up development and bring solutions online quicker.
Designed for experienced programmers proficient in vision applications, Aurora Vision Library provides the same sophisticated functionality as our Aurora Vision Studio software but presented in programming language.
Aurora Vision Studio, an image processing software for machine & computer vision engineers, allows quick creation, integration & monitoring of powerful OEM vision applications.
Adding innovative tech is critical to your success, but it can be complex and disruptive. Professional Services help you accelerate adoption, and maximise productivity without affecting your workflows, business processes and finances.
Zebra's Managed Service delivers worry-free device management to ensure ultimate uptime for your Zebra Mobile Computers and Printers via dedicated experts.
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Zebra Study: Only 15% of European Manufacturers Have Real-Time Visibility into Manufacturing Production
Additional findings of high expected AI adoption growth suggests data utilisation is key to increasing visibility
BOURNE END, England – June 20, 2024 – Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA), a leading digital solution provider enabling businesses to intelligently connect data, assets, and people, today announced the findings of its 2024 Manufacturing Vision Study. The study showed that 54% of manufacturers in Europe (61% globally) expect AI to drive growth by 2029, up from 37% (41% globally) in 2024. This surge in AI adoption, combined with 92% of survey respondents prioritising digital transformation, underscores manufacturers’ intent to improve data management and leverage new technologies that enhance visibility and quality throughout the manufacturing process.
While digital transformation is a priority for manufacturers, achieving it is fraught with obstacles, including the cost and availability of labour, scaling technology solutions, and the convergence of information technology and operational technology (IT/OT). Visibility is the first step to transformation and the adoption of AI and other new technologies enables manufacturers to leverage data more effectively to identify, react and prioritise problems and projects so they can deliver incremental efficiencies across the manufacturing process that can net the greatest impact upfront.
“Manufacturers struggle with using their data effectively so they recognise they must adopt AI and other digital technology solutions to create an agile, efficient manufacturing environment,” said Enrique Herrera, Industry Principal for Manufacturing, Zebra Technologies. “Zebra helps manufacturers work with technology in new ways to automate and augment workflows to achieve a well-connected plant floor where people and technology collaborate at scale.”
Zebra empowers manufacturers with strategic insights and technologies to advance the connected factory by boosting visibility, optimising quality, and augmenting their workforces. To learn more about the top digital and automation challenges from Herrara and other experts, visit here.
Focusing on Closing Visibility Gaps
Although manufacturers say digital transformation is a strategic priority, achieving a fully connected factory remains elusive. Visibility is key to optimising efficiency, productivity, and quality on the plant floor, yet a large visibility gap exists. Only 15% of manufacturing leaders in Europe (16% globally) globally report they have real-time, work-in-progress (WIP) monitoring across the entire manufacturing process.
While 57% of manufacturing leaders globally (compared to 49% in Europe) expect to increase visibility across production and throughout the supply chain by 2029, one-third say getting IT and OT to agree on where to invest is a key barrier to digital transformation. Adding to these obstacles, 84% of European manufacturing leaders (86% globally) agree they are struggling to keep up with the pace of technological innovation and to securely integrate devices, sensors, and technologies throughout their facilities and supply chain. Enterprises can use Zebra solutions to put their data to work, allowing for higher levels of security and manageability as well as new analytics that can elevate the performance of their business.
Augmenting the Workforce, Elevating Value and Efficiency
Zebra’s study found manufacturers are shifting their growth strategies by integrating and augmenting workers with AI and other technologies to transform manufacturing and build a skilled workforce over the next five years. Nearly three-quarters of manufacturing leaders (71% in Europe, 73% globally) plan to reskill labour to enhance data and technology usage skills, and seven in 10 (70% globally compared to 62% in Europe) expect to augment workers with mobility-enabling technology. The technology tools being implemented by manufacturing leaders include tablets (54% in Europe, 51% globally), mobile computers (54% in Europe, 55% globally), and workforce management software (57% in Europe, 56% globally). In addition, 61% of manufacturing leaders plan to leverage wearable mobile computers to augment their evolving workforce.
Manufacturing leaders across the C-Suite, IT and OT understand how labour initiatives must extend beyond improving worker efficiency and productivity with technology. Six in 10 leaders rank ongoing development (61% in Europe, 65% globally), retraining/upskilling (66% in Europe, 65% globally), and career path development (63% in Europe, 62% globally) to attract future talent as a high priority for their organisations.
Advancing Automation to Optimise Quality
The quest for quality has intensified as manufacturers across segments must do more with fewer resources. According to the survey, global manufacturing leaders say today’s most significant quality management issues are real-time visibility (28% in Europe, 33% globally), keeping up with new standards and regulations (28% in Europe, 29% globally), integrating data (26% in Europe, 27% globally), and maintaining traceability (23% in Europe, 27% globally).
Manufacturing leaders’ technology implementation plans will address these challenges. Over the next five years, many plan to implement robotics (63% in Europe, 65% globally), machine vision (66% in Europe and globally), radio frequency identification (RFID) (62% in Europe, 66% globally), and fixed industrial scanners (53% in Europe, 57% globally). Most manufacturing leaders agree these automation solutions are driven by a variety of factors including the need to provide the workforce with high-value tasks (69% in Europe, 70% globally), achieve service level agreements (69% in Europe and globally), and add more flexibility to the plant floor (63% in Europe, 64% globally).
KEY REGIONAL FINDINGS
ASIA PACIFIC (APAC)
- While only 30% of manufacturing leaders use machine vision across the plant floor in APAC, 67% are implementing or planning to deploy this technology within the next five years.
EUROPE
- In Europe, reskilling labour to enhance data and technology usage skills is the top ranked workforce strategy for manufacturing leaders to drive growth today (46%) and in five years (71%).
LATIN AMERICA (LATAM)
- While only 24% of manufacturing leaders rely on track and trace technology in LATAM, 74% are implementing or plan to implement the technology in the next five years.
NORTH AMERICA
- In North America, 68% of manufacturing leaders rank deploying workforce development programmes as their most important labour initiative.
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SURVEY BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY
Zebra commissioned Azure Knowledge Corporation to conduct 1,200 online surveys among C-Suite executives and IT and OT leaders within various types of manufacturing sectors, including automotive, electronics, food and beverage, and pharma and medical devices. Respondents were surveyed in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America.
ABOUT ZEBRA TECHNOLOGIES
Zebra (NASDAQ: ZBRA) helps organisations monitor, anticipate, and accelerate workflows by empowering their frontline and ensuring that everyone and everything is visible, connected and fully optimised. Our award-winning portfolio spans software to innovations in robotics, machine vision, automation and digital decisioning, all backed by a +50-year legacy in scanning, track-and-trace and mobile computing solutions. With an ecosystem of 10,000 partners across more than 100 countries, Zebra’s customers include over 80% of the Fortune 500. Newsweek recently recognized Zebra as one of America’s Most Loved Workplaces and Greatest Workplaces for Diversity, and we are on Fast Company’s list of the Best Workplaces for Innovators. Learn more at www.zebra.com or sign up for news alerts. Follow Zebra’s Your Edge blog, LinkedIn, X and Facebook, and check out our Story Hub: Zebra Perspectives.
Media Contact:
Daniel Blackman
Zebra Technologies
+44 (0)7408 864 597
Daniel.Blackman@zebra.com
Industry Analyst Contact:
Kasia Fahmy
Zebra Technologies
+1-224-306-8654
k.fahmy@zebra.com
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ZEBRA and the stylized Zebra head are trademarks of Zebra Technologies Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2024 Zebra Technologies Corp. and/or its affiliates.