Based on and inspired by the PWC survey on Industry 4.0
The biggest requirement that Industry 4.0 places on organizations is transformation. Transformation from a digital novice to a digital champion is the key to success, however, this goes beyond adopting new technologies, better software and data analytics.
This transformation demands for a broad-based change across the value chain in culture and people, right from the way tasks are performed, to the way the goals for business are set in the board room.
Let’s look at a few important numbers from the PWC survey.
Is there a way to tackle the people and culture issues?
The next logical question which arises is: how do the leaders then deal with these challenges and is there a way to tackle the people and culture issues?
Yes, there is a way. It requires an organization wide commitment to change, training to face the challenges of being knowledge workers and employees, and above all understanding that the value to be obtained will only be achieved when there is widespread and relentless collaboration across the value chain to incorporate and enable the principles of I 4.0.
Leaders of companies across the world need to realize that they need to drive this transformation that I 4.0 calls for. The first step in developing an I 4.0 culture should begin with a detailed analysis - an understanding of where you are is critical in order to pave the way for where you want to be. Ideally a team from across the value chain should be formed. The goal of the team would be to focus on the changes which need to be made and on the people and culture requirements which will facilitate the said changes. It is extremely important that the I 4.0 vision is communicated to the entire value chain from the top management - this will create the so called fire in the belly and drive personnel to adopt the changes.
Understanding leads to collaboration
When the exercise of establishing future goals kicks off, it is crucial to have collaboration and culture in mind - people will more readily adopt changes if they understand and better still endorse them. Industry 4.0 relies heavily on information and people must understand why this is important and how data analytics helps them perform their jobs better.
Same applies to automation and process technology - it is vital that plant personnel understand why robots are needed and how the MES application deployed across the process helps them improve the quality of their work. Training sessions and clearly communicating the goals to all members affected by the transformation will help make the whole process more organic and thereby reduce resistance to change. iIt is also important that organizations at lower level of digital maturity approach their transformation in an organized and well-orchestrated manner, rather than trying to take quantum leaps, incremental gains would add far more value.
At all times the I 4.0 transformation team, needs to involve external partners and focus on skill development beyond the organization in order to be truly successful. Integration of IT applications like MES, ERP, SCM & CRM are incomplete if their true reason is not understood by the users - that’s where orientation sessions and focus groups become important. Get people talking across the value chain and understand their challenges, then get them to acknowledge how collaboration and integration actually benefits them and their organizational goals.
Focus on people and culture is the single most important objective for Industry 4.0 success, along with other factors which we have discussed across this series. Any transformation of such massive scale will only be successful if and only if the people involved in it fully support it, right from the top management to a worker in the warehouse.
The biggest requirement that Industry 4.0 places on organizations is transformation. Transformation from a digital novice to a digital champion is the key to success, however, this goes beyond adopting new technologies, better software and data analytics.
This transformation demands for a broad-based change across the value chain in culture and people, right from the way tasks are performed, to the way the goals for business are set in the board room.
Let’s look at a few important numbers from the PWC survey.
- Some 69% of the participant companies in the survey strongly believe increasing in-house data analytics capabilities is the single biggest route to boost data analytics capabilities across the value chain.
- Also 50% of the participants believe that the lack of digital culture and training are few of the top challenges in achieving a high digital maturity necessary to do well in an I 4.0 environment.
- Another 40% of the participants state that the lack of digital operations vision and support from top management is a major challenge as well.
- 25% participants believe that they currently lack the talent required to attain higher digital success.
- 16% believe that their partners in the value chain are not able to collaborate in digital solutions.
Is there a way to tackle the people and culture issues?
The next logical question which arises is: how do the leaders then deal with these challenges and is there a way to tackle the people and culture issues?
Yes, there is a way. It requires an organization wide commitment to change, training to face the challenges of being knowledge workers and employees, and above all understanding that the value to be obtained will only be achieved when there is widespread and relentless collaboration across the value chain to incorporate and enable the principles of I 4.0.
Leaders of companies across the world need to realize that they need to drive this transformation that I 4.0 calls for. The first step in developing an I 4.0 culture should begin with a detailed analysis - an understanding of where you are is critical in order to pave the way for where you want to be. Ideally a team from across the value chain should be formed. The goal of the team would be to focus on the changes which need to be made and on the people and culture requirements which will facilitate the said changes. It is extremely important that the I 4.0 vision is communicated to the entire value chain from the top management - this will create the so called fire in the belly and drive personnel to adopt the changes.
Understanding leads to collaboration
When the exercise of establishing future goals kicks off, it is crucial to have collaboration and culture in mind - people will more readily adopt changes if they understand and better still endorse them. Industry 4.0 relies heavily on information and people must understand why this is important and how data analytics helps them perform their jobs better.
Same applies to automation and process technology - it is vital that plant personnel understand why robots are needed and how the MES application deployed across the process helps them improve the quality of their work. Training sessions and clearly communicating the goals to all members affected by the transformation will help make the whole process more organic and thereby reduce resistance to change. iIt is also important that organizations at lower level of digital maturity approach their transformation in an organized and well-orchestrated manner, rather than trying to take quantum leaps, incremental gains would add far more value.
At all times the I 4.0 transformation team, needs to involve external partners and focus on skill development beyond the organization in order to be truly successful. Integration of IT applications like MES, ERP, SCM & CRM are incomplete if their true reason is not understood by the users - that’s where orientation sessions and focus groups become important. Get people talking across the value chain and understand their challenges, then get them to acknowledge how collaboration and integration actually benefits them and their organizational goals.
Focus on people and culture is the single most important objective for Industry 4.0 success, along with other factors which we have discussed across this series. Any transformation of such massive scale will only be successful if and only if the people involved in it fully support it, right from the top management to a worker in the warehouse.
