Amid warnings of a global recession, energy price hikes and disrupted supply chains, many manufacturers are struggling to scale the use of Industry 4.0 technologies.

“It’s hard enough to digitize a single site, but then how do you scale from one site to many?," asked Enno de Boer, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company and Global Lead of its digital manufacturing work.“Especially small sites, all different from each other, with old equipment and old ways of working. That’s what keeps so many companies from digitizing successfully—they think it can’t be done at scale, so they don’t try. And they’re left vulnerable to the next big shock.”

But factories invited to join The World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network this week are proving that “transformation at scale is possible,”  Francisco Betti, the Forum’s Head of Advanced Manufacturing and Value Chains, said during an October 13 webcast that he co-hosted with de Boer. These manufacturing sites are leveraging technologies such as artificial intelligence, 3D-printing and Big Data analytics to achieve  “productivity, sustainability and resiliency all at the same time,” he said.

The new lighthouses, run by companies such as Cipla, Danone and Sany Heavy Industry, are deploying large digital transformation programs across 20 to 40 factories in parallel, with thousands of people involved, dedicated governance in place and deploying multiple innovative yet standardized technology use cases, over time spans of just 18 to 24 months. Read on to learn more about this story and the week's most relevant technology news impacting business.

On September 22 executives gathered for a gala at Barcelona’s La Pedrera, a private residence designed by Antoni Gaudi now used as a cultural center. The occasion was the Digital Beauty Awards, a national contest that recognizes the work and effort in digital innovation and electronic commerce of companies and professionals in the cosmetics, perfumery, and personal care sectors.
 
One company –  Puig, a Spanish fragrance and fashion company founded in 1914 and its technology arm AirParfum – walked away with five awards: "Best Digital Innovation", "Best Digital Transformation", "Best Sustainable Digital Innovation" and "Best Digital Initiative at the Point of Sale". Camila Tomas, Puig’s vice-president of innovation and new technologies Puig, was chosen as "Best Digital Director".
 
The secrets behind Puig’s success? Embracing a technology that could cannibalize one of its core products and adopting an open innovation strategy that benefited the whole industry, including its biggest competitors.
 
The company’s journey provides some insights into how traditional companies can transform their businesses through digital technologies and new business models by making bold moves.
 

Number of times Bank of America customers have used its virtual assistant since the service launched in 2018, according to a Reuters report. The bank said this week that 32 million customers had used its virtual assistant Erica, averaging 1.5 million client interactions a day. The service allows customers to check bill payments, account balances and track spending on the mobile banking app. Wall Street banks have lately been focused on expanding into the digital banking space with heavy research and development investments and acquisitions to keep up with customer demands and also as a way to cut overhead costs at physical branches.