DOI: 10.12688/openreseurope.23989.1 ISSN: 2732-5121

Achieving resilience through reconfigurability: The role of digitisation for improved strategy and decision-making for EU manufacturing industries

Emmanouil Bakopoulos, Tjerk Timan, Alexander Dementyev, Kosmas Alexopoulos, Adrian Jacob, Karol Kozak, Domenico Perfido
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This article examines how digitization can support resilience in European Union manufacturing by enabling reconfigurability at the levels of the supply chain, factories, systems, and workstations. In light of recent disruptions, such as the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, geopolitical instability, energy price volatility, and material shortages, the paper conceptualizes resilience as a staged capability that encompasses shock absorption, adaptation, and transformation. The paper argues that manufacturing resilience depends not only on robust planning, but also on the ability to rapidly reconfigure processes, resources, and decision pathways in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous conditions. Using evidence from three Horizon Europe projects, the study presents a practice-oriented analysis of how digital tools can strengthen resilience in diverse industrial settings. The paper reviews pilot and demonstration cases in sectors including steel, textiles, plastics, automotive, medical products, and precision manufacturing. It also maps disturbances according to their likelihood, severity, and operational level. The paper highlights a portfolio of digital solutions, including digital twins, AAS-based integration, federated data spaces, resilience assessment services, production scheduling tools, supply chain digital twins, human assistance systems, and an AI-based early detection tool for identifying weak signals. The article shows how these tools can support a workflow for building digital resilience that includes identifying risks, anticipating them, assessing scenarios, and reconfiguring operations. The findings across the cases indicate that the effectiveness of digital resilience strategies depends on connecting data and decisions across organizational layers, improving interoperability, and addressing persistent barriers, such as legacy systems, fragmented data environments, and limited digital maturity — especially among small and medium-sized enterprises. Overall, the paper provides a practical framework for understanding how digitization can improve preparedness and responsiveness in manufacturing. It emphasizes that resilience is context-dependent, resource-intensive, and influenced by organizational and technical capabilities.

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