Manufacturers Need Fiber Optics Now

As of 2019, Pennsylvania’s manufacturing industry accounted for 11.9% of the commonwealth’s total output, according to statistics from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Following the global financial crisis of 2008, the sector has been on a trajectory of consistent growth, producing $93.75 billion at the end of 2018 – up from less than $74 billion in 2009.

As an incredibly diverse economy, Pennsylvania manufacturing encompasses multiple verticals including pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing, fabricated metal products, machinery, electronics, vehicle and aeronautic parts and even confectionary products. Clearly, this is an exciting part of the Pennsylvanian economy. But it’s also one that places strong demands on its existing networks – requirements that can increasingly only be solved by fiber optic network solutions.

In this op-ed article featured in the Central Penn Business Journal, DQE explains why digital transformation is crucial, how fiber optic network solutions support this transformation, and how the implementation will support Pennsylvania’s manufacturing businesses now and in the future. Future-proofing Harrisburg’s production environment, for example, is not solely about adopting Industry 4.0 solutions. Instead, it’s about an industry-wide movement towards holistic digital transformations that mean leaving vulnerable legacy networks for optimized, scalable and secure fiber optic network architecture. In this way, today’s manufacturers can give themselves an advantage in recovering today while building resiliency for whatever tomorrow brings.