The new IIoT center will allow local firms to adopt new technologies such as AI, big data and IoT
Global management consulting firm McKinsey has expanded its presence in Taiwan, with the opening of its North Asia Industrial IoT hub, Taiwanese press reported.
The new hub, which is located in Taiwan’s capital Taipei, will help drive digital transformation across Taiwan and the region through new technologies including artificial intelligence, big data and the internet of things, according to McKinsey.
To lead the new Industrial IoT hub, McKinsey has hired and transferred eight senior managers with deep experience in manufacturing and organization change from across Asia. McKinsey also announced plans to hire additional staff for the Taipei office, which is expected to triple in size.
McKinsey highlighted that it selected Taiwan to set its regional industrial IoT hub due to the quality of local human resources, experience in manufacturing and technology, the high quality of universities and attractiveness to foreign professionals.
McKinsey has partnered with 100 technology companies to create an ecosystem for the new hub, according to press reports.
“We are partnering with a combination of large technology partners such as Microsoft and Rockwell, as well as a long list of software companies and cutting edge start-ups for specific industrial IoT applications,” McKinsey Greater China Director of Communications Glenn Leibowitz told The News Lens.
Those companies reportedly include Canada’s supply chain software solution provider Kinaxis, AI-driven procurement analytics firm Sievo, as well as German smart manufacturing firm Forcam. Taiwanese companies are expected to play a role in providing IoT sensors and chip technology.
McKinsey senior partner Jean-Frederic Kuentz said the consultancy was already working with several of Taiwan’s electronics and PC and component makers, and would seek to “deepen the relationship,” adding that the team has recently visited auto companies, component makers and ODMs in China, and large-scale manufactures in South Korea.
Albert Chang, managing partner at McKinsey Taiwan, said the future of IoT is in northeast Asia, and that the new hub will be a global center of excellence.
Chang also said that digital transformation in the manufacturing sector represents a potential productivity improvement of 30%, but due to a multifaceted range of problems in implementing organizational change, only around one-third of companies in the region will fully reap the benefits of new technologies.
