Manufacturing industry expects new breed of chief financial officer

CFO 4.0s are so called due to the term ‘industry 4.0’ which is generally accepted as the name for the current trend for the manufacturing sector to take advantage of automation, data, the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing.

The key four elements set out in the report included:

• A comprehensive understanding of available financing options that can enable a commercially sustainable transition to Industry 4.0.
• The ability to introduce relevant financing options at an early stage of the strategic Industry 4.0 process, in order to access and take advantage of the full range of potential solutions.
• Specific Industry 4.0 knowledge and expertise – related to financial, technology, operations and market analyses – in order to accurately assess digitalization opportunity vs digitalization risk.
• The capability to build predictive Industry 4.0 business models, return-on-investment metrics and performance monitoring processes.
• The proficiency to create an effective phased plan to operationalize the business’s move to Industry 4.0.

Brian Foster, head of industry finance at Siemens Financial Services in the UK, said: “The CFO 4.0 is now ensuring that financing options are considered right at the start of digital strategy development.

“Using smart financing techniques, usually from specialist and expert financiers, firms can often find that their range of affordable technology options widens considerably – and that can make the difference in gaining significant competitive edge in your marketplaces through digitalization and transition to Industry 4.0.”

Over 60 manufacturers and management consultants were interviewed over the phone by Siemens between October 2017 and February 2018.

They were asked how a successful strategy is built, what skills are required and how it can be financed to produce the best return-on-investment.

Interviewees came from the following countries: China, France, Germany, India, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK and the US.