When we hear the terms “Industry 4.0” and “digitalization,” we imagine fully automated, lifeless factories churning out products in a lights-out kind of manufacturing environment. The reality, however, is far from that image. The digital transformation of any enterprise is more like a journey than a step change, and achieving such a transformation is only possible through the empowerment of an organization’s number one resource: its workers.
Agile methodologies originate from the software development sector, where development teams work in a more collaborative and cross-functional manner to deliver a product that is developed with an iterative approach and is continually improved to meet the requirements set out.
This is a methodology that is the exact opposite of the waterfall method of development, where an elaborate plan is established at the beginning based on user requirements and the project is executed by subject matter experts, the aim is to deliver a solution in one go with minimum possible change requests and by following the specs to the exact detail.
There are, however, industry-specific, people and technology-related challenges as well, there is a clear and growing knowledge/skill gap between the existing old-school workforce and the new more digitally adept one. Understanding what technologies to implement to further the company’s vision and doing so with minimum disruption is another challenge. Competition is tighter than ever, digitization is being pursued by each and every manufacturer, which means improvement in efficiency and profitability are critically important. Even in relatively stable batch-type discreet production facilities, customer demands for personalization and customization are leading to a larger than ever product mix.
Digitizing tasks and activities for frontline workers, while providing real-time operational visibility and driving process optimization and improvement, across all areas of business operations.
