Dossier buzzes: tracking references to industrial automation in the railway industry

Mentions of industrial automation in the files of companies in the railway industry were 64% higher in 2021 than in 2016, according to the latest analysis of data from GlobalData.

When companies in the railway industry publish annual and quarterly reports, ESG reports and other documents, GlobalData analyzes the text and identifies individual sentences that relate to the destructive forces that companies face in the coming years. Industrial automation is one of these topics – it is believed that companies that excel and invest in these areas are better prepared for the future business landscape and better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges.

Two measures were calculated to assess whether industrial automation is more involved in the summaries and strategies of companies in the railway industry. First, we looked at the percentage of companies that mentioned industrial automation at least once in their applications over the last twelve months – 59% compared to 44% in 2016. Second, we calculated the percentage of total sentences analyzed that refer to industrial automation .

Of the 10 largest employers in the railway industry, Royal Mail is the company that cites the most in industrial automation in 2021. GlobalData has identified 51 sentences related to industrial automation in the documents of the UK-based company – 0, 4% of all sentences. Yamato pointed to industrial automation in second place – the issue is mentioned in 0.3% of the sentences in the company’s documents. Other leading employers with a high degree of industrial automation include DSV, Post Italiane and FedEx.

This analysis gives an approximate indication of which companies are focusing on industrial automation and how important the issue is in the railway industry, but there are also limitations that need to be interpreted carefully. For example, a company that mentions industrial automation more regularly is not necessarily proof that it is using new techniques or prioritizing the problem, nor does it indicate whether the company’s ventures in industrial automation have been successes or failures.

In the last quarter, railway companies based in the United States most likely mentioned industrial automation with 0.2% of the sentences in company documents related to the problem. In contrast, Asian-based companies mention industrial automation in only 0.05% of sentences.