Spreading the sustainability message
Higher productivity, reliability and profitability have been key drivers since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Now, in the era of global warming, digitalization enables precise control over critical processes to reduce energy use – enhancing the sustainability of the entire industrial ecosystem.
In McKinsey’s 2024 report From hire to inspire: Getting – and keeping – Gen Z in manufacturing, Gen Z were the only cohort that consider ‘meaning’ as a key reason to take, keep or quit a job. More than other workers, Gen Z want to make a difference.
As we convene once again in Davos, Switzerland in January 2025 for the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum we must connect the dots between this year’s theme ‘Collaboration for the Intelligent Age’ and one of the key topics of discussion, ‘stewarding a just and inclusive energy transition’ to show the critical role industries have to play in achieving both of these visions and to help attract a new generation of digital native workers.
Automation helps to make this vision a reality. Augmenting human capabilities by carrying out dangerous, repetitive and low-value operations with precision and speed not only positively impacts productivity – it empowers workers, fosters economic growth and generates new job opportunities.
Digitalization also enables precise control over critical processes to reduce energy consumption, minimise waste and, ultimately, enhance the sustainability of the entire industrial ecosystem.
Access to data, the lifeblood of modern industry, is key to maintaining this momentum, ensuring that companies continue to produce commodities, which are essential to everyday life, efficiently and profitably, without compromising sustainability.
Source: Frei, Barbara. “From tech to sustainability: Why the industrial sector is calling on Gen Z and Gen Alpha to join its workforce”, World Economic Forum, Schneider Electric, Jan 6, 2025, https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/01/industrial-workforce-intelligent-industries-youth/
