Even though a lot of money is spent on technology, many Industry 4.0 projects fail to deliver the benefits that were promised. Based on what clients from all over the world who make things have told me, here are five areas in which manufacturers have to concentrate on getting the most from them.
Industry 4.0 has been on everyone’s list of things to do for a long time, but few businesses have seen real business benefits from it. When I’m working with clients, I often observe the same mistakes being made over and over again. If you’re determined not to make the same mistake, here are five things you should think about:
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1. People and processes should be the focus.
Technology is not the only part of Industry 4.0. To get the most value, successful organizations are concentrating on developing new operating models, shifting business processes, and improving the skills of their employees. A new Economist Impact/Cognizant study says that workforce development needs a whole new approach.
It needs to be built in, scalable, and connected within the framework of Industry 4.0. If you don’t pay attention to people and procedures, you could end up with such a tech debt and also no return on your investments. This is a real risk because so many projects are driven by technology instead of business.
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution is still in its nascent state. But with the swift pace of change and disruption to business and society, the time to join in is now.” – Gary Coleman, Global Industry and Senior Client Advisor, Deloitte Consulting
2. Make goals and a list of priorities
Think about the result first! The organizations that have done the best job with Industry 4.0 are the ones that have recognized the industry use instances and have a prioritized roadmap. Once you know what a business use case is, you should also think about the whole value stream. Many do the opposite and start making tech changes before they know what their business goals are.
3. Use the best plans you can find.
When I visit factories, the workers are eager to demonstrate to me their newest ideas. It usually stands by itself in a corner. Why isn’t it bigger and an element of the whole process of making things? Because they bought something without taking the big picture into account.
Adopting Industry 4.0 shouldn’t be seen as a single innovation project. Organizations need the right building blocks to be successful. They must use best-in-class industry blueprints for reference architectures that have been tested and shown to be scalable.
4. Get the ecosystem industry
Involved The 4.0 frameworks are part of an ecosystem. It’s all about products and processes that work together, and initiatives won’t work if they only happen inside your company. It’s like buying a smart refrigerator in Africa. If you haven’t built up a full ecosystem, the fridge won’t be useful.
Successful businesses have figured out the supply chain and made sure to bring along the ecosystem in which they work. They need to bring their suppliers, partners, and customers along on the journey to change.
5. Make sure the right technology is in place.
It’s important to make sure that the right amount of money is put into the technologies that help Industry 4.0 work, like 5G, the cloud, and Master Data Management (MDM).
Industry 4.0 depends on huge amounts of data moving between systems and businesses. Organizations can’t forget how important it is to have strong and safe networks. They must also take care of data reliability at the source because it’s much harder to deal with data problems further down the line when there are a lot of data to deal with.
