Industrial Transformation Blog

In a previous article, Three Reasons Why Digital Transformations is So Hard, I did a deep dive into what transformation means compared to just evolutionary change. Two of the three reasons explored in that post deal with the idea that businesses have rarely approached a level of change that qualifies as transformative. The focus needs to be on the business processes and not the digital technology underlying its processes. Industrial Transformation (IX) is the path businesses need to pursue, emphasizing the results, not the technology used to drive those results. But looking back historically this raises the question “is business transformation the same as IX?”

I had the pleasure of attending Rockwell Automation TechEd and PTC LiveWorx in back to back weeks last month. Both events generate a tremendous draw in the industry and set attendance records, however, it may be the last year that happens. There are rumors that 2020 will see a new co-located event; times are a-changing! Although there were differences in the themes, attendees, and presentation style, there was also much in common ― especially about a shared vision of Industrial Transformation and joint customer momentum.

Plex Systems held its annual PowerPlex user conference in Detroit the week of May 13, 2019, with just over 1,000 attendees and a few dozen sponsors across technology partners and systems integrators. A group of high schoolers were also in attendance, demonstrating their very cool entries for the FIRST Robotics competition; during the event Plex announced a $40,000 donation to this organization that works to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology.

Commitment matters, whether it is in a romantic comedy, real-life dating, or Industrial Transformation (IX). In a relationship, it is imperative that there is a “real commitment” for the relationship to progress and succeed. To make romance hard, romantic comedies and scuttlebutt tell us that determining if your partner is committed to the relationship can be difficult. Despite their pronouncements of love, “real commitment” can be elusive.

On Wednesday, March 13, LNS Research hosted the webcast “Digital Readiness for Industrial Transformation: Success Lessons from Real-World Leaders.” The presentation covered the scope, scale, strategy, budget, and organization of Industrial Transformation (IX) programs globally. The session also investigated the technology choices made in the IX programs, and how these new technology choices balance against Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT).

We recently conducted a global survey on Industrial Transformation (IX) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).  These are topics that we have been studying for quite a while.  In fact, LNS Research was the first to coin the term “IIoT” in the 2014 report, “What is an IIoT Platform?”  This new report examines the year-over-year trends in industrial corporations’ plans, projects and outcomes around IX generally and IIoT specifically.  The research and trendlines demonstrate the continually growing interest in and maturity of the IIoT and IX markets.

Forty-five percent of companies globally are executing an Industrial Transformation (IX) program, according to recent LNS Research survey data.  Before we can really understand the journey companies undertake, we need to know where they’re headed.  That requires a solid definition: what is Industrial Transformation, and how should companies execute it?  LNS Research defines Industrial Transformation simply as:

A proactive and coordinated approach to leverage digital technologies to create step-change improvement in industrial operations.

Industry 4.0, Smart Manufacturing are hot topics for companies gearing-up Industrial Transformation. The goals of these ambitious programs while admirable have a long-term view. Here at LNS as we define our upcoming research agenda and delve into Industrial Transformation, it has become clear that many of our clients are opting for shorter term view than the typical large-scale and expensive Industrial Transformation programs.

The goal of a Digital Twin is to have a software copy that behaves as closely as possible to its real-world twin, capturing every single attribute of that physical thing. We are often focused on Digital Twin of a product – because as products evolve their Digital Twin can be updated to reflect the new product, it can also predate the new product. But what about the benefits of having a Digital Twin for assets? Consider a manufacturing plant, we can start with small pieces of equipment that are vital to the production – the more critical that equipment is, the more likely is it that a Digital Twin will deliver benefits. The component, of course, must be significant enough to warrant the (high) cost of developing a Digital Twin or have enough pre-existing models available to construct a first-generation Digital Twin. The key for executives is to understand that Digital Twins can bring immediate benefit to a manufacturing plant (and the products it produces), but they are a long-term play rather than a quick fix.

On Wednesday, June 20, LNS Research co-presented the webcast, “Smart Maintenance: Using APM 4.0 to Drive Better Business Results” with AVEVA, an engineering and industrial software provider. The presentation explained why leading manufacturers use APM 4.0 to achieve balance between maintenance performance and overall economic performance. The discussion included an examination of which industries are prime candidates for APM 4.0, where to begin, and how to assess results.