Industrial Transformation Blog

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 .

LNS recently attended Emerson Global Users Exchange, the user conference by Emerson was held in Texas from October 1-5. One of the consistent messages from the Emerson team is their drive to help clients reach top quartile performance. This year was no different, the message was clear - process industries need to achieve excellence in reliability, safety, production, energy and emissions; and Emerson’ portfolio of software, hardware, and consulting services will help clients achieve that top quartile performance in process operations and capital project execution.

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.

Our journey through the Analytics That Matter series has shown that the Operational Architecture is a critical factor in building an analytics environment that can deliver value at all levels (descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive). It’s also clear that where Operational Architecture is concerned, one size does not fit all. Operational Architecture is one piece of the operational and data model puzzle manufacturers need to ensure success. Many industrial organizations ask, “Why doesn’t one size fit all?” Let’s explore that statement and explain why right-sizing each element is key for success.

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On Thursday, August 23, LNS Research hosted the webcast, “Analytics That Matter: A Fresh Perspective on Operational Architecture.” The presentation explained the results of the 2018 Analytics that Matter survey and helped industrial executives understand a new dimension of Operational Architecture. The discussion also covered the data and analytics architecture that powers Digital Transformation goals.

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.

LNS Research has published our Analytics That Matter research report (previously titled Metrics That Matter) for several years, with the original research appearing almost a dozen years ago. The 2018 report breaks new ground by moving from a discussion of metrics to a focus on advanced analytics, and putting analytics into LNS Digital Transformation Framework, backed by our recommendations on Operational Architecture.

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.

Asset performance management (APM) 4.0 is a strategy and an approach to maintain and operate manufacturing assets, it’s not an APM 4.0 package that companies can buy “to do APM 4.0.” The APM market is still quite fragmented with few suppliers offering enterprise asset management (EAM) only, others providing just predictive maintenance analytics, while some suppliers offer multiple elements of the APM landscape as integrated and stand-alone solutions. As asset care evolves to allow manufacturers and asset-intensive industries to take advantage of Smart Manufacturing or Industrie 4.0 based digital technologies, businesses need to think about how they are going to maintain these Smart Connected Assets. Big Data analytics, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), augmented reality / virtual reality (AR/VR), and the Digital Twin are critical to future maintenance systems. Trying to categorize all the vendors that provide these technologies can be a daunting task. Pick the wrong set of partners, and you may never realize the benefits of Digital Transformation. Pick the right partners, and you could well outperform the competition. Understanding how to make the right choice of partners is the first step towards APM 4.0.

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

Wolters Kluwer | Enablon recently hosted the Sustainable Performance Forum (SPF) in Chicago for its customers, partners, and solution experts. The event was part of the environment, health, and safety (EHS), risk, and sustainability software vendor’s global series of customer conferences.