In an era that has been dominated by the rise of IoT and predictive analytics technology, it was also surprising to find that only 15.2% of those polled placed predictive engineering as a business priority for the next five years. In addition to this, a quarter of the 250 managers involved in the study feel that a lack of integrated technology across different departments is the main reasons that firms do not implement predictive engineering. 

However, the study did reveal that more than four in ten managers in manufacturing feel that the rise of IoT technologies is crucial to help drive predictive engineering, with artificial intelligence and machine learning also being rated as important factors. 

Out of the manufacturers that are using predictive engineering to help make their processes more efficient, more than half (55.6%) stated that they are benefitting from significant cost reductions while 44.8% are seeing an increase in the speed of product development. 

Mark Breeden, senior account manager at HSO, commented: “It is surprising to find that a large majority of managers within the manufacturing industry feel that their firm is failing to successfully implement predictive engineering technology. 

“The research indicates that this is a missed opportunity for businesses with many respondents that use predictive engineering revealing significant cost reductions and increased product development. Manufacturers need the tools to understand key intelligence that will help them be proactive rather than reactive which will help to improve efficiencies across the production chain. Hopefully, the rise of IoT and AI technology will mean that more businesses will begin to reap the rewards of implementing predictive engineering programmes.”