Industrial Transformation Blog

Another year comes to an end! I hope you attained your personal and professional goals this year. At LNS, I had an exciting year, launching research on successful new product introduction (NPI) in the digital era, selection of Quality 4.0 technology to drive differentiation, and the convergence of safety, risk, quality, operations, and design for reliability. We examined the quality and Quality 4.0 trends in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and automotive industries and developed frameworks and approaches for success. LNS also conducted multiple onsite quality advisory sessions and workshops for technology vendors and manufacturers. Additionally, we launched two new surveys, led two executive roundtables (thank you to the hosts Newell Brands and Whirlpool), and presented at several corporate events including ASQ’ Quality 4.0 Forum.

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 .

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 .

The concept of effective integration of environment, health and safety, and quality (EHSQ) management systems has received much attention in the past few years. Though, not surprisingly, the idea of EHSQ integration has not translated into widespread implementation - after all, it’s hard to break down long-standing organization and technology silos, and bring teams, processes, and technology together for the greater good of the organization.

But, several forces have come together to create the opportunity, if not the obligation, for EHS and quality business leaders to look at the possibilities and develop an integration strategy to strengthen both domains and add more value to the business.

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 .

Over the past few months, we’ve been helping many LNS program members with strategic planning for 2018, and underlying this planning is a common theme - “What is the perceived value of quality?”

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2017 was a challenging year for quality. Many manufacturers had to evolve their quality management system due to changes in standards and compliance requirements, providing an opportunity to rethink processes, organizations, and leadership support.

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Have you ever played the game “Twenty Questions?” It’s a great game for long car rides, as I was reminded recently while taking an old-school family road trip from Pittsburgh to Maine. Fifteen hours of non-stop driving with nothing but the car radio, snacks and each other’s company means you’ll eventually play every game you know (at least twice).

For those unfamiliar, Twenty Questions is a game where one player thinks of something, and the other players have 20 questions to guess what it is. I've found that process of elimination can be an effective strategy. To discover what the thing is, it’s helpful to first determine what it isn’t.

Quality leaders often view customer complaints as a reactive metric and the last line of defense in their arsenal. Though the term may seem pessimistic on a first glance, when collected, analyzed, and promptly handled, customer complaints have the potential to be a net positive for manufacturers. Not only from a metrics and operations standpoint but also in enabling closed-loop processes and driving a culture of quality throughout the organization.

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