The Physical-Digital Bridge: An obstacle worth overcoming
Throughout the industrial world, many emerging technologies are beginning to take hold; common examples include artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), and Augmented/Virtual Reality (AR/VR), among many others. Much excitement surrounds these “Industry 4.0” technologies, with major hype over the past five years or so by many manufacturers and service providers.
The excitement, in many ways, is well-founded; according to the WEF and McKinsey, the Industry 4.0 movement for manufacturing & production could reach a value creation figure of $3.7 trillion by 2025. Firms are charging this direction to create value in the form of cost savings, forecasting, and even serving customers directly, the possibilities may be endless.
However, many organizations face some major headwinds when it comes to implementing these emerging technologies. It is well noted that many industries are successfully embracing these technologies, particularly in areas where much of the business model is already utilizing digital data and technology; think social media platforms, and fintech as examples. On the other side, other industries, including manufacturers and services providers of high capital and durable goods, have struggled to fully embrace many of these technologies, partly due to the challenges these organizations face….
Antiquated Infrastructure
Many production and services environments use equipment and tooling that, frankly, was not set up for something like IoT, sometimes being decades old. Many points of data could be collected from a physical process, which can provide a basis for effective monitoring and insights. That said, if the current machinery and data infrastructure needs major modifications to leverage this physical data, it creates a major hurdle for any organization to implement, let alone leverage using other emerging technologies.
Unprepared Workforce
Many industrial organizations have carefully constructed knowledge centers to produce high quality products and services, while leveraging best practices in execution (i.e. six sigma, lean manufacturing, etc.). With the wave of new technologies, different, enhanced skillsets are needed, and, more importantly, it is imperative to have a workforce prepared to help bridge the physical and digital worlds.
Overwhelmed Leadership
With various directions, technologies, and providers, it can be overwhelming for organizational leadership to envision exactly what the future with emerging technologies will look like. Many leaders are not intimately familiar with the technologies in manufacturing and services environments and can have a difficult time seeing one step ahead for their organization, let alone three steps ahead.
These challenges and beyond provide a large obstacle for manufacturing and services organizations to fully leverage emerging technologies for greater performance and value creation. As organizations move forward to implement these value-creating technologies, it is valuable to remember some important points….
Understand the current infrastructure and capabilities
Many organizations will have some infrastructure and capabilities to implement emerging technologies sooner than others. It is very important to be honest with all key stakeholders throughout the firm; is the organization technically and culturally ready to implement key technologies in its systems and processes, or are there some obvious holes?
Identifying the right people and their skills for connectivity
Having the right people, acting like conduits, that can bridge the gap between the physical systems and processes, and the emerging technologies will be very important. A wealth of knowledge is layered throughout organizations but introducing new technology into processes requires the right eyes on both sides of the coin to implement effectively.
Lay out the roadmap three to five steps ahead, not just for tomorrow
All actions and implementations of new, emerging technologies around manufacturers and service providers must be done with purpose and with the long-term view in mind. Leaders must be bold, involve the right stakeholders in the conversation, and have a roadmap of rollout and implementation with a purpose in mind. While change should be incremental, the end goal is of the utmost importance.
Leveraging these important points will help organizations position their firm and team members for success. Implementing lasting, technological change is a tough obstacle to overcome, but if done correctly, an obstacle worth overcoming….
