Industrial Transformation Blog

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.

More so than ever, the environment, health, and safety (EHS) business function is expected to contribute to sustainable, profitable growth of the enterprise. This is part of the natural evolution of the goals for EHS management over recent decades. Leading companies have shifted their focus away from mere compliance to proactive risk mitigation, Operational Excellence, and shareholder value.

On Wednesday, June 13, LNS Research co-presented the webcast, “The Connected Worker: Modernize Safety Risk Management” with Gensuite, a Cloud-based EHS management software provider. The presentation examined how safety and health leaders can use digital innovations to enable the connected worker, improve safety, and mitigate risk.

The Smart Manufacturing Experience launched its first edition of manufacturing event on April 30, 2018 at the Boston Convention Center. The 3-day event, which focused mostly on Smart Manufacturing, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), additive manufacturing, and augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), witnessed several hundred presenters and attendees from an assortment of companies including IIoT Platform start-ups, industrial analytics providers, 3D printing companies, and big technology players like Microsoft, PTC, among others.

Digital Transformation is a widespread trend across industry. Our research shows that about two-thirds of industrial organizations have already implemented Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 technologies, or plan to soon. This trend is only accelerating. To date, most companies have focused digitalization investments on using asset- and operations-related data to improve core operational areas such as asset reliability, energy management, and production efficiency.