Industry 4.0, or the digitization and mass customization of manufacturing, will drive mergers and acquisitions in coming years as weaker players are swallowed by stronger ones, industry experts say.

The manufacturing sector will see higher M&A activity particularly as digitization takes hold over the next five years, according to industry sources at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS 2018) in Chicago.

“The most important takeaway is that a lot of people in each of the generations historically [in previous industrial revolutions] didn’t really understand or fully appreciate the transition and many companies got left behind – they went out of business or got bought out by others,” says David Brousell, co-founder and executive director of the Manufacturing Leadership Council in North America in a presentation.

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