Industrial Transformation, or IX, is new. There is no play book. There is no proven methodology. There is no exemplar. The improvement programs of the last generation are clear – Toyota and Lean, GE and Six Sigma, Dupont and Operational Excellence, among many others. But why were these companies successful in these endeavors – and why did they share them with the world?
Precisely because they weren’t originally implemented as the next management flavor of the month at these companies. These initiatives grew organically, solving the business problems of the day, with the technologies of the day; in a way that complimented and extended the core competencies and competitive advantages of these companies. And they knew any company that just tried to copy the program – rather than engaging in the hard work and improvement process to create a program that worked for them, would gain no advantage.
To date, most companies trying to implement Industry 4.0 or Smart Manufacturing are even worse off than companies 20 or 30 years ago trying to implement Lean or Six Sigma. At least then the tools and methodologies had been proven effective. In the case of Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing, companies are trying to copy the work of futurists, academics, and management consultants – implementing tools and methodologies never proven in the real world, only test beds and lighthouse facilities.
Our recent research on IX readiness identifies these shortcomings in spades.
IX is not the next management flavor of the month… and unfortunately there never will be a play book – if all your organization does is copy a program from the company down the street, you will never gain the ultimate promise of IX, competitive advantage.
IX is and will be whatever your company makes of it. The companies and individuals delivering the most impactful transformations – never set out with a mandate or title to transform anything. They just tried to solve problems, in new ways, with new technology. Then they tried to sustain and scale what they learned from solving these problems.
But with all that said, even though no company is great at everything, every company is great at something. And to that end – LNS will be working to identify these companies in our forthcoming IX Exemplar Series. Highlighting what these IX Exemplars have done extremely well, better than anyone else. Identifying why it worked in the organization, and providing that insight and framework to our members, so it can be incorporated into their own IX initiative, in a way that compliments their own organizations unique capabilities and competitive advantage.
In our initial research, we have identified 4 broad areas where IX Exemplars are needed, along with potential IX Exemplars in some detailed subsets of these areas; all of which are included in our forthcoming IX Maturity Framework.
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