EEF enlists Oracle for next ‘industrial revolution’
2 Aug 2016
EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, has teamed with cloud application specialist Oracle, to help UK manufacturers prepare for the 4th industrial revolution (4IR).
Bridging the technical divide to embrace digitisation, big data and other rapid advances in technology will be critical to making this industrial shift, said EEF.
The collaboration between the two organisations will be launched with a series of focus groups targeting manufacturers around the UK. From these meetings, an executive report on the key barriers, enablers and drivers of 4IR will be developed.
The British manufacturing industry has always kept up with the pace of innovation, but the advent of the fourth industrial revolution marks one of the biggest technology-driven shifts in modern times
Mark Newton, VP of applications at Oracle UK
According to EEF, 80% of manufacturers believe that this next industrial transformation will be a business reality within the next ten years, opening up new opportunities, but also presenting technological challenges.
Critical to bridging these is identifying manufacturers’ experience of 4IR, understanding what they want to achieve for their business and how they think digitisation and new technologies will support them, it said.
Oracle will bring its experience as a global technology company specialising in enterprise, supply chain, and cloud-based software delivery platforms.
“The British manufacturing industry has always kept up with the pace of innovation, but the advent of the 4th industrial revolution marks one of the biggest technology-driven shifts in modern times,” said Mark Newton, vice president of applications at Oracle UK.
“Working together with EEF, we seek to provide manufacturers with both the information and practical paths they will need to successfully navigate the changing technology landscape.”
Terry Scuoler, chief executive of EEF, said: “It is vital that British companies are able to fully realise the opportunities and stay at the forefront of 4IR. This will require increasing levels of collaboration between our two sectors, so I am delighted that Oracle will help us engage and inform manufacturers on this crucial theme.”
