CME: Canadian Manufacturing at Risk of Falling Behind
A shortage of skilled workers is threatening Canadian manufacturers’ ability to adopt necessary technologies to scale and compete globally, according to a new national survey by Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME).
Conducted between March 15 and April 17, 2023, the CME survey also shows that two out of five companies have not started or are in the early stages of digital transformation. If Canada’s manufacturing sector is to remain globally competitive, more manufacturers will need to embrace digital transformation at a faster pace.
In the survey, one-third of manufacturers identified a shortage of skilled workers as one of their biggest barriers to technology adoption, saying they can’t find enough workers with the appropriate skills to take advantage of the technologies.
The CME survey also reveals that one out of four companies is not currently using any of the nine digital transformation software solutions available on the market, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. It shows that 10 per cent have yet to adopt any of the nine advanced manufacturing technologies frequently associated with Industry 4.0, including cloud computing, robotics and cybersecurity.