Quality can be a tough job.  Fighting fires, preparing for being audited, performing audits, scrutinizing risks and finding root causes, monitoring suppliers, adapting to new customer requirements and updated standards, and so on.  Then acquire a dozen companies (or be acquired), and replicate all of this work at business units, sites, and suppliers around the globe.

In our recently published eBook on Digital Transformation with MES, LNS Research introduced the concept of MOM 4.0. This will come as no surprise to regular readers of LNS Research as we already have APM 4.0, Quality 4.0, and EHS 4.0. In this blog, and in subsequent posts and research papers, we will look at what MOM 4.0 is, the journey to achieve it, and the benefits of doing so.

Industry 4.0 denotes the fourth industrial revolution, one that has been developing over the last few years as many new technologies are maturing bringing with them the opportunity to improve the world of manufacturing across the enterprise and the life cycle of its products. Much of this technology is brought together in Industry 4.0 and other large initiatives such as Smart Manufacturing and Digital Transformation via Internet of Things Platforms that will be the key to the interoperability that will deliver value.

However, LNS Research feels that the success of journey to Digital Transformation will be down to the people more than technology or process.

What is MOM 4.0?

On Thursday, August 24, LNS Research hosted the webcast, “Quality 4.0: What You Should Know, How to Get There.” The presentation examined what quality innovation leaders are doing with data, analytics, connectivity, and apps to achieve continuous improvement and considerable operational and financial performance advantages. The discussion included an examination of how to build an effective strategy to reach Quality 4.0.

The #MondayMusings Industrial Transformation blog series provides insight and analysis for executives from the previous week’s briefings, events, and publications @LNSResearch.

Architecture, according to Merriam-Webster, is “the art or science of building” or “the manner in which the components of a computer or computer system are organized and integrated,” among other things. Operational is defined as “of, relating to, or based on operations” and “ready for or in condition to undertake a destined function.” LNS believes businesses are best served when they apply the technique of Operational Architecture, which taken literally from the previous definitions, is the organization of the systems and technology to perform the functions of business.

Quality 4.0 is the Digital Transformation of people and processes to drive quality improvement (read further here). We’ve been discussing Quality 4.0 with the market, and it’s clear that the statistics are correct. For every one quality leader that is actively working on Quality 4.0, there are 19 or so that are not.

As a longtime speaker and adult education instructor, one of the first lessons I learned about communicating with business people is that to educate them you must engage them, and the easiest way to do that is by entertaining them. Most of us would challenge the idea that prime-time network TV is educational; dominated by with reality competitions, whodunits, and comedy programs. So, you might be skeptical when I claim that Asset Performance Management (APM) professionals should treat a show like MacGyver as “educational TV.” Whether one harkens back to the original series from the late 1980’s or the rebooted version that started just last year (2016), MacGyver has become something of a legend in the TV world. 

Quality 4.0 leverages the critical technology changes of Industry 4.0 which enable quality to transform performance, culture, leadership, collaboration and compliance. The transformation will fuel innovation, particularly quality’s ability to contribute to the innovation cycle. LNS Research illustrates how innovation leaders look to quality as an innovation enabler.

In this monthly Roundup, LNS Research explores recent announcements and events, such as new solution announcements by Samsung and ATS Global; the Honeywell acquisition of Nextnine; an iBASEt/Cogiscan partnership; Sphera’s new partner program; and United Technologies Corp’s AS9110-C certification.

Where is your company’s strategic direction, and how well aligned are your actions and strategy to this direction? This might be the most important question you ask today because if you aren’t aligned or aren’t sure what your alignment is, it’s also likely that you suffer from low top management priority, cultural challenges, and insufficient funding.