Encouraging Maine Business Leaders To Adopt Data-Driven Practices
MIE/CEE Professor Jack Lesko, who is also director of engineering research at the Roux Institute in Portland, Maine, co-led a study that revealed businesses in that state are behind international trends to implement what is known as Industry 4.0, or real-time data and automation standards. These would enable companies to enhance productivity, wages, and the quality of people’s work lives.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Ian Thomsen. Main photo: Advanced and smart manufacturing can help companies in Maine amp up their success regionally, nationally and globally, says Jack Lesko. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
Maine businesses urged to adopt Industry 4.0: Northeastern study highlights critical need for data-driven transformation
Companies in Maine are facing an urgent need to incorporate automation and real-time data into their business decisions, according to a new study led by Jack Lesko, an engineering professor at Northeastern University’s campus in Portland, Maine.
“The adoption of advanced and smart manufacturing in Maine and the U.S. lags international trends, where these technologies can enhance productivity, wages and the quality of workers’ lives,” says Lesko, whose work explores how data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to enhance engineering solutions.
“The idea is, how do you use data to make decisions to enhance manufacturing productivity and process resilience?” Lesko says.
The new data-driven standard for companies around the world is Industry 4.0. Also known as the “fourth Industrial Revolution,” Lesko believes it can help companies in Maine amp up their success regionally, nationally and globally.
Lesko co-led the Maine market study, funded by the Maine Technology Institute, which finds that the state’s business leaders lack awareness and understanding of the digital transformation that is influencing industries around the world.
The report suggests that a constructive first step should include an independent, unbiased analysis of a company’s current practices along with a recommended roadmap for utilizing data—something the Roux Institute and its partners are certified to offer, Lesko says.
“What we’ve tried to do with this report is understand what is happening in the state and then begin to develop programs that can help companies adopt advanced and smart manufacturing,” says Lesko, whose study was supported by the University of Maine Advanced Manufacturing Center and the Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
The study is based on interviews with 10 Maine manufacturers across seven sectors in addition to insight from five external organizations that specialize in helping manufacturers transition to Industry 4.0.
Lesko says the new advanced manufacturing and data-driven practices can help inoculate businesses against pandemics, port strikes and other potential disruptions.
“Adding automation and using data to make decisions—which is happening in many other countries at higher rates—offers opportunities for the United States and for the state of Maine to achieve a better quality of life and better national security,” says Lesko, who serves as director of engineering research at Northeastern’s Roux Institute.
It helps to view the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” in historical context, Lesko says.
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