Towards a new era in manufacturing: Final report of VTT's For Industry spearhead programme

In order to boost the competitiveness of the Finnish manufacturing industry, a spearhead programme, called For Industry, was run at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, in 2015-2016. The programme focused on key technologies that would make new solutions available to the Finnish industry to maintain domestic manufacturing as well as create new products and services for international markets. These key technologies include the Industrial Internet of Things, automation and robotics, additive manufacturing and digital engineering, at large. In addition to technology, For Industry focused on how to create successful business from new technology. These considerations included studies on business ecosystems and business models in manufacturing, and decision-making in complex business environments. For Industry placed special emphasis on increasing the competitiveness of SMEs. This VTT Technology report summarizes the main results and research highlights achieved in the For Industry spearhead programme, in each of its six modules: Manufacturing Ecosystem, Business Models, Digital Engineering, Automation & Robotics, Industrial Internet and Decision Making in a Complex World. The approach of the report, however, is to not only look retrospectively at the results of completed studies, but also to envision the future of manufacturing. We are in the middle of a rapid transformation towards a new era in manufacturing, and that is why the envisioning of future research topics has been emphasized in this concluding report of the For Industry programme. Although the For Industry programme ended, the revolution of the industry has not. For Industry has created a strong platform from which Finnish industry can tackle future challenges.