Thought Leaders 2023: Frank Baldrighi

What are the three biggest challenges or threats facing your industry in 2023?

The industrial sector will continue to face heightened risk from increasing cybersecurity threats in 2023, which include potential attacks on critical infrastructure and possible data security breaches. It will also experience continued system fragmentation linked to hybrid workplaces and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) strategies. Lastly, the ongoing skills shortage across Australia will continue to place pressure on industrial organisations as they struggle to find skilled workers to ensure they can deliver to their customers.

Mobile computing solutions will be critical conduits in optimising workflows to help counter this. Examining underlying processes will be important to ensure only best practices become part of the new way of doing things and digital transformation will help organisations reduce their reliance on manual processes and outdated solutions that may fail when things don’t go according to plan.

Discuss the ongoing impact of the skills shortages on your industry, and solutions being implemented in 2023?

The ongoing skills shortages in the industrial sector have meant that organisations have turned away new work and halted digital projects. This has been further exacerbated by constrained economic growth.

In 2023, frontline industries will need to transform and adopt ways of working that include: continuing to keep employee health front and centre; working from anywhere at least a significant portion of the time; minimising the need for human intervention in machine operation; using existing human talent more efficiently in more complex tasks; and making necessary data available to the worker on the road, as and when needed.

Workers will remain a vital resource, complemented with data insights and automation. Technology, through digital transformation, will help deliver the right data to workers, making work more innovative for increased productivity.

What opportunities do you predict for the growth of your industry in 2023?

Machine learning (ML) will help industrial organisations use talent more efficiently. Users can train ML models on historical data to detect and learn patterns. When used on incoming data, these systems can detect and flag anomalies in machines or behaviours to proactively solve problems.

The Internet of Things (IoT) to minimise human supervision and facilitate remote oversight will continue to grow by letting sensor-embedded equipment relay live information about equipment health. Users can program these data points to be as frequent as needed, and, by analysing this information, workers will be able to rest assured that all systems are functioning smoothly and intervene only as and when necessary. IoT complemented by visualisation platforms will also help workers keep a remote eye on processes across multiple portfolios. Rugged devices will be critical in helping frontline industries access that data from wherever they need to.

How are you ensuring supply chain resilience during times of global uncertainty?

Getac invested much effort and resources to make its offerings flexible, while still delivering quality devices, on time. It works closely with its supply chain partners and monitors key material inventories to meet demands. Even under difficult circumstances, Getac has maintained swift shipment lead times, which are better than the industry average. In Australia and New Zealand, all Getac products are airfreighted to avoid slow port turnaround times due to port congestion to ensure that lead times can be met.

For the industrial sector more broadly, a connected supply chain, which uses digital technologies to deliver end-to-end supply chain visibility and enhanced business operations, is a critical piece of the puzzle. Mobile computing solutions represent a critical platform to connect mobile transportation workers, from the warehouse to the delivery vehicle, to provide the information that workers need to make informed decisions in real time. Evolving data capture requirements to support unique item level identification or more significant traceability efforts will benefit from automating repetitive processes and free up labour for other tasks.

Frank Baldrighi is a business development manager at Getac, responsible for managing key relationships in Australia and New Zealand. Frank’s focus is on building brand awareness and providing rugged technology across some of the most demanding professional environments. Frank has more than 15 years’ experience working in multinational companies across multiple geographies.