Trend/theme of the year: The hope is that the new build policy announced by the government will soon be reflected with a boost to the whole construction sector, revitalising with an upward trend in our industry. Other relevant themes will be the sustainability of materials and processes used to build furniture and joinery products, benefitting from reduced energy consumption offered by systems like scm SaveEnergy, and modular design in construction, hence requiring larger and more automated equipment like scm Oikos, Oikos X and Area CNC machining centres for beams and walls.
Challenge of the year: The challenge remains a general uncertainty on the European markets vs an upcoming clear expansionistic policy in the US. This means that private expenditure might remain conservative if we sit where we are. On top of the financial elements just mentioned, disruptions in the supply chain due to international instability and labour shortages are the everyday battles our customers need to fight even before looking at broader spectrum challenges like sustainability and inclusion of technological advances like AI in fairly traditional work environments.
Opportunity of the year: Automation and digital systems to improve productivity, amid the lack of skilled personnel, increasing costs and need of hybrid working. Automation and robotics like the scm Flexstore automatic storage or Windorflex door and windows manufacturing cell are increasingly being used to improve efficiency and precision in the manufacturing process, while digital tools like Maestro suite software, Maestro Connect’s services and Win Mes, aimed at exploiting the work floor at its best, are revolutionising the level of control and performance achievable by all manufacturing entities, from very small to very large, thanks to the scalability of the tools.
