Industrial Transformation Blog

"THESE are the times that try men's souls." With all that's happening today in the world, from the coronavirus pandemic to the Saudi-Russian oil price war, to the continuing threat of cyber attacks, Thomas Paine's words seem appropriate. How should we, particularly those of us in industry, put this situation in perspective, and what should we be doing about it?

In the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, the public health response was focused on containment, and the advice for industry was supply chain resiliency and risk management. Ensure that sole sourced critical components had been eliminated or weren’t coming from affected regions. In large part, North American and European manufacturing passed the test, due to several factors, including work already done after the Fujiyama nuclear disaster and supplier shifts forced by the several year-old trade-war.

The world is reeling from the COVID-19 crisis that is on course to cause thousands more deaths and precipitate global economic disruption of unknown proportions. What can environment, health and safety (EHS) business leaders do to help their organizations successfully navigate the COVID-19 pandemic?

In my new ebook, “Asset Performance Management and Risk Management,” I argue the case for a more comprehensive approach to Asset Performance Management (APM) that goes beyond reliability. In particular, I stress that reliability is not just about maintaining mechanical and process integrity for the sake of plant performance, but is, in fact, integral to Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS), Operational Excellence (OE), overall risk management extending to sustainable and responsible operations. LNS research into what makes companies Industrial Transformation (IX) leaders, those companies that we call IX Exemplars, reveals four key characteristics

As early as 2012 LNS Research was asking the question: should companies be creating a Chief Quality Officer? With the launch of Quality 4.0 initiatives broadly across the industry, a focus on closing the loop from consumer experiences to product design, ensuring a culture of quality, and embracing new Digital technology; the answer to that question today is an emphatic yes. From mid-level to upper level, digital quality leaders are emerging across various industries to bridge the gap on digital tools, infrastructure and analytics.

As technology advances exponentially, smart city strategies will fuel industrial transformation (IX) opportunities. City and industry convergence for synergistic value is on the rise and is expected to get more complex and integrated. Sixty or so years ago the animated sitcom The Jetsons catapulted thought towards the future. These natives of Orbit City appear to be moving to Music City - Nashville Tennessee. From George Jones to George Jetson, Nashville’s new Intelligent Transit initiative is sure to capture national attention. Why just meet George Jetson, his boy Elroy, daughter Judy, and Jane his wife, when you can be them?

In December 2019, 60k attendees descended upon Las Vegas for AWS re:Invent. Just like Amazon Web Services (AWS) generally, re:Invent is fast-growing and overwhelms with its sheer breadth of content. With dozens of announcements and multiple keynotes from senior executives, including an analyst-only session with AWS CEO Andy Jassy, re:Invent has quickly become a can’t miss tech event. Jassy clearly took pleasure in the success of AWS, as he should. Started in 2006, after just 13 years, the division has grown to $36B in revenue, is still growing at 35% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), and is Amazon’s most profitable.

In our recent eBook introducing research on the factory of the future (FoF), we show that the factory itself will be a hotbed of innovation and a key provider of vital information to help drive Industrial Transformation (IX). The three pillars of IX—people, process and technology—are all vital to success, but today we discuss the pillar that is probably the most important factor that will determine whether the FoF will deliver its promise or not: people.

An enterprise quality management software (EQMS) initiative can provide one of the best opportunities for Quality leaders to become recognized as an Industrial Transformation (IX) change agent. The opportunities are even greater when Supply Quality and Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) are considered in the scope. Quality leaders will need to break away from their traditional correction mode headset and learn how to connect with others. Collaborating with the various functions before starting will be key, because they want to know what’s in it for them. Exploring technology opportunities, casting a clear vision and charting an easy win, is sure to land quality leaders as a unique IX change agent—especially when viewing the latest research indicating 14% of IX programs are being headed up by team leaders possessing the right skill sets for cross-functional collaborative leadership.

We recently presented a webcast on “Factory of the Future: Optimizing the Plant for Industrial Transformation (IX)". The presentation covered the starting point for your Factory of the Future (FoF) journey, how to build the architecture to support FoF processes, and sources of data and ideas for bringing it all together. We also looked at key technologies that you should consider in your FoF journey—including MOM, digital twins, AI and digital Lean— and how to define and use Edge computing concepts in the integrated world. Here we will look at the 7 standout questions that came out of that session.