July 2017
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10 PROJECT MANAGEMENT
MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY How Kiwi tech helped Team NZ bring the America’s Cup home.
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SMART MANUFACTURING Companies finding value in the circular economy
The spirit of
disruptive innovation
Automation
brings risk There is a huge “jobsolescence” factor that has become more relevant in recent years. This means that some jobs will be rendered obsolete. An estimate of 9% to 50% of the labour forces of developed countries are susceptible to automation in the coming decades, but even at the 9% low end of the estimates, this can cause significant social unrest – not to mention the 50% nightmare possibility… However, jobs are facing multiple scenarios in upcoming years. The first scenario is replacement or substitution of jobs with automation.
How often have you heard someone in your work circles say, “Nowadays we don’t see work more than two to three weeks ahead” or “Since major contracts have started finishing, we don’t know what to do with our current staff”? If a lot - you’re not alone. Looking out for the next contract opportunity is the norm for many of our member companies - but could we improve this outlook with better marketing or networking? Absolutely!
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In fact most jobs are generated by word of mouth and those random phone calls which you weren’t expecting - but when those dry up, you’re still likely to be dictated by the market than call the shots yourself any way. What we need to start asking ourselves is whether we can jump ahead of the queue, and drawing inspiration from those who’ve paved the way is a good start take the classic car Ford Mustang for example! A faster horse - Ford’s disruptive journey
The second is augmentation, such as IBM’s Watson used to shoulder doctors’ diagnostics, and the third is the creation of more jobs, which is the hardest to imagine. Since there are many jobs that exist today that did not exist a decade ago, it is quite likely this scenario will happen as well. Some of these jobs include app developer, driverless car engineer, and big data analyst. Not only are these jobs being created due to the increase of technological development but also the pay in these jobs is high. While not as high paying, other jobs created by technological change include social media manager, drone operator, and Uber driver (and the latter two can be automated over time).
Henry Ford is famously quoted for saying ‘If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse’ - a statement reflective of an era where everybody had horses but very few cars, and his underlining belief that his company knew best being the ‘car people’. Since then, this phrase has been adopted in arguments and debates around the world when it comes to aspirations for a disruptive shift in thinking.
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