In mid-2017, LNS Research identified that an early but significant group of manufacturers had begun to recognize Quality 4.0 as one of their top Industrial Transformation initiatives. LNS coined the term Quality 4.0 and defined the space - why to adopt Quality 4.0, and how to build a successful strategy. Over time, the interest in Quality 4.0 has continued to accelerate, and many manufacturers are now either investigating Quality 4.0 or deploying early pilots .

On Thursday, November 15, LNS Research hosted the webcast, “Driving Performance in Life Sciences: Making Industrial Transformation Real with Quality 4.0 Technology.” The presentation explored how life sciences manufacturers can build a successful Quality 4.0 project to drive Industrial Transformation and gain competitive advantage.

In the 18 months since LNS coined Quality 4.0 and provided the definitive frameworks, manufacturers throughout the supply chain, across industries, and of varied company sizes have aggressively pursued Quality 4.0 technology and use cases. Today, 64% of manufacturers are pursuing Digital Transformation, and of these, 23% are pursuing quality improvement use cases. A low hanging fruit, Quality 4.0 is one of the top use cases of Digital Transformation initiatives.

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

LNS Research recently attended Pilgrim Fusion 2018, the customer conference for Pilgrim Quality Solutions. Pilgrim Quality Solutions is an enterprise quality management software (EQMS) company that is primarily focused on (but not limited to) the Life Sciences industry .

On Tuesday, September 18, LNS Research hosted the webcast, “Unlocking Value from Shop Floor to the Enterprise: Digitally Transforming Risk, Quality and Safety.” The presentation explained how integrating the critical functions of quality and safety can mean strategic value for the enterprise beyond the sum of what they offer separately. The discussion included an examination of how industrial organizations use advanced digital technologies to transform risk, quality, and safety management to deliver unprecedented value from the shop floor and throughout the enterprise .

Some things are good on their own, but simply better when paired with something else. Take peanut butter and jelly, wine and cheese, or as many of us are reminded at this time of year, the beach and sunscreen. However, sometimes better together is more than just the sum of individual ingredients, like chemical reactions. For instance, internal combustion is the combination of fuel, oxygen, compression, and a spark resulting in much more than a static mix of its respective parts. This is true with quality, and environmental, health, and safety (EHS).

Quality and EHS management systems have increasingly converged over the past several years, enabled by the efforts of standards organizations such as ISO. Combining these two previously disparate management systems into one is a better together story, with shared competencies, culture, data, and processes. However, when we combine these management systems with Digital Transformation, we create something more like a chemical reaction.

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

Dassault Systèmes (3DS), a leading European software company providing 3D design and engineering software recently held its two-day event, 3DEXPERIENCE FORUM in Vélizy, France. The event gathered industry analysts and shared the company’s vision with deep dives into products and industries. As always, Bernard Charlès, Deputy Chairman and CEO of 3DS, gave the opening address and update about 3DS strategy. Bernard was in top form, starting with a moving and personal tribute to the late Serge Dassault, Chairman, and CEO of Dassault Group. Serge supported Bernard in his long-term view of how 3DS should develop, and helped 3DS become the innovative and successful company it is today.

Many quality leaders have recognized that imbuing a culture of quality is critical to achieving quality objectives and desired outcomes. In fact, LNS Research identifies that 37% of quality leaders (n=1198) cite a lack of quality culture as the top roadblock to achieving quality objectives. Naturally, culture initiatives are common and emphasize that the corporation must transition to a more proactive quality approach. One critical element to culture initiatives is early and effective engagement in new product introduction (NPI). However, most of the market lacks early and effective engagement of quality processes, insights, and competencies within NPI, and quality teams often struggle to justify a change .

A few weeks ago, I attended PowerPlex, Plex Systems’ (Plex) annual user conference. The event was held in the heart of Detroit, fitting given Plex’s strong presence in the automotive supply chain and discrete manufacturing. The PowerPlex event continued to grow this year, reflecting Plex’s strong year-over year growth in users (expanded usage in 294 existing customers) and customers (65 new customers). The strength of the Plex platform is a vital growth enabler and differentiator. The platform delivered 1.7 T transactions, 779M web service calls, and 99.9998% uptime in 2017, all with better than 500ms response rate on its multitenant Cloud platform.

Agility, adaptation, and innovation are prized commodities in today’s business climate. Disruption is top of mind because it is a genuine opportunity and risk. Today’s manufacturers are exposed to unprecedented external forces, but also have the potential to access unprecedented insights. These insights can lead to innovative products, achieve new levels of quality and productivity, and create innovative new customer experiences. The end effect is that highly agile, and digitalized startups have managed to topple established industries and manufacturers that have been slow to adapt.