Every manufacturer that wants to stay ahead of the competition wants the latest and greatest tech.
In the era of industry 4.0, the change may seem simple enough; get systems in place that speeds the process of manufacturing
However, all AI and cloud computing in the world cannot replace today’s subject and ultimate goal of any Digital Transformation project: fully integrated, seamless processing of data.
In our roundtable discussion with senior D4M sales team, we will discuss the “common denominator” of the Digital Transformation process and the potential traps/pitfalls to achieving the true KPI boost of the industry 4.0 future.
With all that out of the way, let’s hear what the D4M experts have to say the hyperdrive data processing of the industry 4.0 future:
Alan: Not to point fingers or anything, but if it were up to my wife, we’d still be using rotary dial phones in our household.
Alan: Whenever she gets a new phone, it’s a long, drawn-out hate process.
Alan: But I think what you’re both describing is the process of almost building a digital culture.
Alan: And, from what you’re saying, that is extremely significant, that companies foster a digital culture within their organization. And that can be difficult.
Alan: Perhaps we could spend a little bit of time here to talk about how we can promote innovation, collaboration and the willingness to change among employees, because that it is a big factor with a lot of companies, and it is a point of either success or failure of whether they’re successful in building that culture; don’t you think, Jean-Yves?
Jean Yves: Absolutely! That’s something that needs to be part of the project. It cannot be ignored; hell, the worst-case scenario is to ignore it! That’s oftentimes a cause for failure later in the project. But I want to take for a second, just a step back with what I like to call the common denominator. When I said early on, “digital transformation mean different things to different industry”, there is underneath a common denominator.
Jean Yves: Because what digital transformation is sitting on is at the base is being able to put in place totally seamless, well integrated process across your organization. And the same comment about the data, to have a data that is fully integrated in a seamless way along the way with your process. So whoever achieved the full integration, whether you’re an insurance business or manufacturing or utilities, the common denominator of, I would say a successful usage of technology for digital transformation purposes, lies on having at the base, as much as possible, fully integrated seamless process and data.
Jean Yves: So the example, the most basic example that we can give is for some client today, for all kinds of good reason, you might still be running a part master file, which, sorry to go down to the nuts and bolts and, but the data you could have in your shop, several version or parts files that are disjointed. So, obviously it’s hard to integrate a seamless process if your company is dealing with this type of environment. That to me is the same regardless if you’re dealing with insurance, manufacturing, utilities, etc., it boils down to the type of integration that you’re, you’re able to put in place, because with better integration will come better data collection, better analytic, more efficiencies and at any point in time you could have better KPI. And at the end of the day, you manage what you measure.
Jean Yves: So if you’re able to measure your process from a to z and identify the weak points, it’s a huge competitive advantage. And the way it’s achieved with integration for lots of corporation.
Jean Yves: And this is where there’s still a lot to do today, as we all know, because technology has been implemented or put in place over two or three decades. So those corporations are, today, a lot of technology on board, but I would say a lot of disjointed technology.
Alan: So yeah, what joins them together is, as you mentioned, data, and leveraging data and data analytics to drive decision making in those processes seems to be a very important concept. But there’s a lot of digital technologies and I think while most CIO’s and IT directors understand the importance of moving in a more digital direction, I think it gets a little bit overwhelming. There’s a lot of digital technologies, whether it’s online functionalities, smart machines, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing, etc.
Alan: You know, as Raj was talking about machine learning, automating business processes and even manufacturing processes, to the point that there were some companies out there that have never seen that level of automation before. But all these processes are very data hungry. And all of it revolves around data so that you can make data driven decisions.
Alan: So, Raj, please share your thoughts on data, the importance of data, and maybe even on the problem with data that a lot of customers and a lot of companies have right now.
Raj: Yeah, I can say something about it, and you’re right, the data becomes a critical factor.
Raj: So, one thing which I’ve seen consistently with any company that is going in for a digital transformation program is that everything revolves or centered around a robust AI powered cloud ERP system. And I’m going to say that with an in-memory database.
Raj: The reason being, again, coming back to the concept about speed, we were talking about artificial intelligence because any amount of data that you have, unless you have very good algorithms for using AI or ML, you are not able to decipher that data in a meaningful way that makes a lot of sense from a business point of view. Right?
Raj: And also by having an in memory database, it means you need to get that data so fast that you should be able to get that fast enough that you can make quick decisions, either for a good opportunity or if some risks are coming or disruption, you need to have that quickly so that you are reacting in-time; well in-time.
Raj: So having a very strong central ERP system with everything that I just talked about is one of the key factors and then when you start adding all the other things, like cloud computing, Internet of Things, robotics, robot RPA, all of these are going to be add-ons to it, which is going to make your digital transformation journey that much more powerful and you are having a much better edge over your competition when you add all those things.
Alan: Even 10/15 years ago, I remember one CIO complaining to me that he has all kinds of data, just no way to use it. And really, the technologies have improved the collection and aggregation and creation of data, but they’re also very much improving the ability to be able to consume that data rapidly.
Raj: Yes, and that’s where the advanced analytics is coming up, because more and more companies, as part of their digital transformation, are focusing on analytics because they’re able to collect all the data. But, once that’s done, how do they use the data? And that’s where the analytics comes into picture. And with strong artificial intelligence and ML (machine learning) algorithms, plus with an in-memory database, they are able to provide insights and even reports that are fast critical to the business leaders so that they can take quick decisions.
Raj: Also, the insights are coming in such a way that they are able to comprehend and make faster decisions.
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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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