Dom Mirabile’s Worldwide Exploration of Manufacturing Trends

Intelligent robotics. Augmented, virtual, and mixed reality. Artificial intelligence and machine learning. Cloud computing. IoT. Additive manufacturing and new subtractive techniques. These are just a few of the technologies that are creating new possibilities in manufacturing today—a movement that many refer to as Industry 4.0. They have the potential to make factories more agile and responsive, more efficient, and more intelligent.

But what’s possible and what’s happening in factories around the globe are often very different. To find out how global manufacturers are adapting to new technologies, Dom Mirabile of Deloitte decided to see for himself. He set out on a worldwide tour of 50 factories in 21 countries, staying in homes, not hotels, and carrying out 400 conversations with managers and decision makers. Dom spoke about his experience in the Theater at AU Las Vegas 2018.

“I wanted to interrogate the shifts in global manufacturing and build a deeper perspective. What’s it like to be a plant manager in Louisville, Kentucky, or Northern Vietnam, or Germany, or Japan? What kept these folks up at night?” —Dom Mirabile, Operations Consultant, Deloitte

What he found along the way will surprise you, provide a deeper understanding of the priorities for modern manufacturers, and insight into how they really view innovation. In part, what he discovered was that, for most of these professionals, new technology is nothing new—things have been changing for decades. And the bottom line is that it’s all about the company’s bottom line. And that means different things on different continents and in different cultures. Watch Mirabile’s short talk now.

For more on Mirabile's work, read Exploring the Industry 4.0 Manufacturing Narrative With a Trip Around the World, the latest from Redshift. It’s filled with important observations on the state of things in the industry, as well as how the common stories we tell will help manufacturing continue to evolve.