In this week’s interview, the D4M senior sales and management team discuss how companies can take many small steps in order to create a gradual Digital Manufacturing overhaul.
Since most companies tend to approach the tech changes slowly (and at a lower cost) the D4M experts break down how you could go about this process through proper planning, knowing your options, and through “self-funding” through incremental upgrades in technology.
With that being said, let’s hear what the D4M management thinks of slow transitions into Digital Manufacturing:
Alan: So, we’ve talked about the digital transformation being an imperative in today’s market for any company – whether it’s a manufacturing company or not. We’ve discussed some of the technologies, and you can invest a lot of money in digital transformation; but doing it the smart way. And I’ll take the perspective of my customers, they want to do digital transformation in a way that is incremental and almost self-funding.
Alan: Is that possible?
Alan: And Raj, I’m going to ask you again, because I know that you’re working with several customers right now on some of these initiatives. But, how do you get there?
Raj: So again, as I mentioned before, companies don’t need to make it a big program, they can start in small chunks.
Raj: So, what happens is that when they prioritize and pick one area where they want to make a digital transformation, they might need a limited funding to take care of that. However, once they have a successful digital transformation in that area, then it becomes a huge motivating factor.
Raj: Also, like you said, it could continue to self-fund the project. The benefit that they are reaping with that transformation can start funding the other building blocks and I’ve seen that done in many places, especially in manufacturing, when you are talking about Advanced Planning Systems.
Raj: Now, if that’s a big pain point for a company, then they can start investing money in technologies that are going to make that Advanced Planning much better; that way, they are able to reap the benefits.
Raj: The benefits that they’re getting can be used towards the next opportunity that they have.
Alan: Your answer baited another question, Raj, and, of course, identifying some of the bigger pain points. Most companies understand where those pain points are; at least at a high level. Are you asking companies then to evaluate that pain point in terms of the technologies, capabilities, tools, and software that’s available so that you can build a digital transformation plan for that area?
Raj: Exactly! So, once you identify the biggest pain point, then your focus is going to be to analyze and approach the issue. You can start the process using some metrics: how you are today in that area? Are you able to get the productivity that you are looking for? Maybe not. Once you have a desired productivity level and you have a desired metrics that you want to achieve, then start looking at technologies and improvements that you can make in that particular area.
Raj: And when you transform that area and you are able to achieve the KPI that you are looking for, that’s a win for you.
Alan: Excellent. Jean-Yves, you have been a CIO for many years now. Give us some, some idea of how you would go about prioritizing digital initiatives in terms of their potential impact and feasibility. What are some strategies that you would have used as a CIO in order to examine those pain points and then phasing into some of the transformation activities?
Jean Yves: When it comes to that transition process, I think two things are extremely important on how to tackle the journey.
Jean Yves: Item 1: you need to have good planning up front. And when I say “good planning”, I’m not saying planning to the extreme, but at least having a target as far as what the roadmap should look like! And that will obviously highlight the pain point; but it’s highlighting the pain point while keeping in mind what the end game is. If you’re fixing a pain point, and you say “okay, we’re going buy ten robots on line number two to fix a, B and c”, it’s great! After ten months, you’re going have ten robots! But how does it fit into the global, seamless process integration?
Jean Yves: You have to have a view of the big picture without falling into the pitfalls of planning to the extreme where you have to think about everything that could happen and all the options; the roadmap is never perfect! As you start the journey, there will be changes. It’s not perfect, and you shouldn’t aim to have the perfect roadmap, because it doesn’t exist!
Jean Yves: So, to me, that’s the first piece of advice: you need some planning, but don’t spend a ton of time to get the perfect plan. Get your feet wet, get started. You can look at your pain points as a starting point; especially when you look at pain points with the perspective of the disjointed aspects of your process.
Jean Yves: The second piece of advice I would suggest – or at least, how it’s referred to in today’s world – would be called “reverse engineering”. What I mean by that we have seen client going to a popular trade show called Hannover Messe. This is the largest trade show in manufacturing in the world, it takes place once a year, and it’s all business solutions. There are at least 2500 exhibits discussing business solutions.
Jean Yves: This is an event that is 100% pure, dedicated event for manufacturing; as pure a manufacturing event as you can imagine! This event is attended from people from all over the world from every country in the world and I cannot recommend this event to people enough. Go check it out! In three/four days, you’re going see about every technologic approach out there, but not for the sake of technology. You’re going see business solution installed on the floor with real life situation! If you’re looking into machines that paint or build or plan or store, its all there!
Jean Yves: So in the course of three/four days, you’re going to see just about everything that exists in the world and I say that without exaggeration! Events like these are great because you can see what’s available, you can hear about what people are doing, and give you a demonstration on how to install everything! It’s a very good introduction! In a very short period of time, for a few thousand dollars, you’re going get more ideas for how to tackle your tech/production shortcomings which will trigger better discussion with your management, with your investors, with your IT guys, with everybody! That’s the second suggestion I would make.
Jean Yves: So, why did I call this “reverse engineering” before? I used that term because instead of looking at your business “in the mirror” so to speak and see where the pain is you see what the solutions are to then apply it to your business. When executives and VPs try to ask people in the IT and engineering side of the production – trying to pinpoint what the problems are – the people on the shop floor often tell them won’t point at one piece of software as a magic fix. Pain points are often general and sweeping.
Jean Yves: Worse still, even if you 100% know what the problem is, you may not know how to solve it OR know of other solutions that could not only fix the issue, but improve a variety of other different aspects of production!
Jean Yves: So, instead of looking inward and coming up with your own fixes, you go to see what the world has to offer in that kind of trade show and – for me – it becomes a good accelerator later on to pick or focus on certain type of technology that are very promising.
Jean Yves: So, to me, as a CIO, that’s how I look at it; because, at the end of the day, the amount that your shareholders are willing to spend, there are always limitations. You can either spend on building a new plant in Kentucky or you can either spend that money on a transformation. You can improve your plant in New Jersey OR you can put your money on a new plant.
Jean Yves: The way you can spend your money are unlimited. But at the end of the day, from the perspective of a CIO and as a person who wishes to technologically enable my clients, you have to be able to pick – up front – what are the best production technology, business technology, etc.
Jean Yves: So, to me, there’s a reflection to be done before you jump into the nuts and bolt. You need to look at the forest before you look at the trees.
Alan: So, it’s almost like taking what Raj said about looking at the pain points and trying to address some of those first before looking at the technologies and seeing where those two can meld together correctly in order to help drive KPIs. And again, a lot of people have a good sense about where some of those benefits are going to come from, what technologies to use and how they can do it. But it is, at least at this stage of the process, a little bit of a mystery to them.
Jean Yves: To your point, Alan, what I always enjoy saying to my colleagues at that transition period is, “okay, we have a pain point, and we have a problem. Chances are somebody in the world have had this problem before us. So, let’s see what they did to tackle this problem.”
For more interviews/success stories, be sure to check out the official D4M International YouTube page!
D4M is a privately owned company specializing in leveraging digital technologies to accelerate manufacturing clients to their transition to Industry 4.0. With long tenure and hundreds or successful projects, we are confident that our approach and experience provides the roadmap to help bring clarity and efficiency to your manufacturing operation.
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