Analytics, Estonia, Markets and Companies, Technology

Food, timber, paper and furniture industries are among those who have digitized and automated their production processes to the largest extent with roughly a third of the companies in the sector having digitized approximately 50% of their production. A fifth of the businesses in the sector have digitized over 60% of their processes.

Among companies producing basic metals, metal products, and means of transport, a fourth have digitized at least 40% of their production. The lowest share of digitization was recorded among businesses involved in the production of textile, clothing and leather products.

From the perspective of Estonia's economic growth, digitization of industry is an important and inevitable step, which enables to enhance commercial processes and thus create higher value added, Inge Laas, manager of strategy and product development at Enterprise Estonia said.

"Essentially, the digitization of industry, or Industry 4.0, means making better use of technologies and integrating machines into a comprehensive system with the aim of cutting costs and increasing revenue," Laas said. "However, all of that should be preceded by data analysis and diagnostics of management decisions in order to ascertain bottlenecks, which would otherwise remain undetected. In that aspect, there is a lot of potential for increased effectiveness among Estonian businesses." 

Laas noted that Enterprise Estonia seeks to support companies in their technological shift and has for that purpose launched a series of development marathons and seminars. Since October 2018, industrial enterprises also have an option to apply for Enterprise Estonia's support for digital diagnostics.

"There is still room for improvement, but 52% of Estonia's industrial undertakings have shown interest in starting or proceeding with digitization of production in the next two years, which serves as good basis for boosting Estonia's competitiveness," Laas said.

The survey into the digitization of Estonian industrial companies' production processes was commissioned by Enterprise Estonia and carried out by pollster Rait Faktum & Ariko. The survey was conducted in January among 300 businesses all over Estonia.