Transforming manufacturing for Industry 4.0
If we took one thing away from our time at Hannover Messe this year, it’s that disruption is the new normal for manufacturers in today’s Industry 4.0 era. With this disruption, comes new opportunities for companies to engage customers, empower employees, optimize operations, and transform products. Businesses must change to survive to capitalize on these strategies. This means developing new capabilities by transforming into digital companies that leverage every system, device, process and asset across the organization in order to draw better insight out of data and convert it to intelligent action.
Findings from a recent McKinsey & Co. Digital Manufacturing Global Expert Survey say that there are many challenges that companies continue to face as they look to transform—from lack of a clear vision and strategy, to lack of knowledge about relevant technology partners, to difficulty in managing and attracting digital talent.1
To enable the kind of rapid transformation that is needed in the industry today, McKinsey & Company and the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII), a UI LABS collaboration, just launched a new North American Digital Capability Center (DCC) in Chicago. This new facility offers workshops, digital showcases, immersive experiences, and end-to-end training on digital capabilities to help manufacturers plan their own transformation and prepare for the jobs of tomorrow.
I was pleased to participate in the DCC’s launch event, where I joined a panel of Industry 4.0 leaders from Jabil, McKinsey, Rockwell Automation, Stanley Black & Decker, and thyssenkrupp. Our discussion focused on ideas and best practices around digital transformation journeys, including how to start and scale, and lessons learned.
We all agreed that the meaningful, bottom-line impact and competitive advantage that digital manufacturing brings cannot be ignored. Manufacturers need to act quickly in order to stay ahead of the competition. We explored the fact that this kind of transformation is not simply about technology—it requires business leaders to re-envision existing business models and embrace a different way of bringing together people, data, and processes to create value for their customers.
As I toured the DCC, one of the most exciting aspects about the facility is that it truly brings digital manufacturing to life, giving leaders and their teams a chance to experience what next-generation technology looks like on the factory floor. Participants can watch the transformation unfold as a functioning production line evolves from its non-digital, lean “current state” to a higher-performing, digitally-transformed “future state.” To see first-hand the substantial productivity and operational gains that going digital can bring was astonishing to the visitors I spoke with.
We are pleased to support the DCC along with other technology partners. These showcases demonstrate how manufacturers can enable advanced analytics capabilities like artificial intelligence and machine learning using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft HoloLens and Microsoft Surface Hub to power industrial applications such as digital performance management, predictive maintenance and mixed reality for connected field service.
I highly recommend that you make visiting the DCC a priority as you plan your own Industry 4.0 journey.
Twitter: @sanrav
1McKinsey & Co. Digital Manufacturing Global Expert Survey 2017
