Ageing infrastructure holding back process manufacturers finds new report
Process manufacturers are seeing their growth impeded by serious infrastructure issues, according to a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
The impact of ageing infrastructure in process manufacturing industries, sponsored by Oracle, surveyed 366 executives from the oil and gas, utilities, chemicals and natural resources sectors from across the world. 87% said that ageing infrastructure has impacted their operations in the last five years, with one in 10 reporting severe consequences that they are still trying to fix.
The report also shows that companies are responding: almost 33% of executives say they plan to increase spending on infrastructure in the coming years. Just 8% plan to decrease spending.
Infrastructure upgrades are beginning to take a larger share of operational budgets. 17% of executives say their companies will spend more than 40% of their operating budget on projects involving ageing infrastructure in the next five years. This is more than double the percentage of executives who say their companies spent much of their budget on these projects five years ago.
The top priorities for process manufacturers are new troubleshooting technologies, which can identify problems before breakdowns occur, enabling efficiencies, the extended life of assets and reducing the risk of infrastructure failure.