How to get started with Smart Industry?

Smart Industry, also known as Industry 4.0 or smart manufacturing, promises to be an exciting future. A future driven by technological advancements, offering new ways to do business. A revolution where organizations leave their competitors behind through digitalization, automation, and data-driven decision making. 

We wrote two dedicated articles for those who are interested in an introduction to the concept of Smart Industry. The first one discusses what Industry 4.0 is, and why it’s relevant. The second article is more related to the technologies used during an Industry 4.0 implementation. 

In this article, we present one of many possible roadmaps to approach a real-world application of value-adding smart manufacturing. The roadmap is broken down into manageable steps for an intelligent transformation to Industry 4.0, with each of these steps only requiring a small budget and yielding high returns on investment. As a basis for this condensed “how to get started with Industry 4.0” roadmap, we used the outstanding, but very comprehensive, guide to “Real-World Industry 4.0” by AIVHY.

Industry 4.0 roadmap

The implementation of Industry 4.0 typically consists of the following four steps: 

• Step 1: "Awareness"
• Step 2: “Demonstrate Added Value”
• Step 3: “Envision, Strategize & Master planning”
• Step 4: “Self-sustaining Transformation”

The first two steps are meant to introduce all layers of the organization to the concepts of Smart Industry. By taking the entire organization along on the path of Industry 4.0, initial support for the implementation can be achieved, and more importantly it will intrinsically motivate the organization to become the driving force of the change. During the last two steps, the actual revolutionary transformation takes place, during which lasting changes happen. Individuals become aware of Industry 4.0, its potential for the organization, and are empowered to embrace the transformation.

Before we discuss the initial step of the roadmap, we will first take a look at the necessary organizational involvement for a successful transformation. 

Organizational involvement

Before the first step of a holistic Industry 4.0 implementation takes place, it is important to identify early adopters and colleagues that are welcoming to change. These key players should be a fair representation of a company, including mechanics, engineers, middle management, team leaders, but als C-level management. An Industry 4.0 implementation needs a transformation sponsor at C-level to interface between the top management and the core team of the transformation. In addition, this C-level sponsor will also be able to open doors and ensure that the right people are involved at the right time. 

Besides a fair representation of a company, an Industry 4.0 transformation also requires a transformation leader, assigned by C-level. A transformation leader should have experience with change management, and ideally, be an expert in the field of Industry 4.0. It is his or her task to lead, guide, and facilitate the transformation process through providing expertise, challenging the status quo, and facilitating decisions. Keep in mind that the transformation leader doesn’t necessarily have to be an in-house employee. In some cases, it might be better to bring in someone who has already been a part of a Smart Industry transformation.

Awareness

After the organizational involvement has been decided, the first step of the transformation can begin, and it consists of warm-up sessions for the key players. The first warm up sessions are meant to both educate the basic principles & technologies of Industry 4.0, and to train the participants in recognizing potential added value in daily work scenarios. 

The follow-up sessions, ideally planned one or two weeks after the first one, participants are required to identify one or two scenarios where the company could benefit from Smart Industry. Any benefit is allowed, whether it is improved comfort during work, SHE improvements, or financial gain. During the second session, all ideas will be shared with the group to brainstorm further about hidden business benefits. During this session, the participants will be motivated to identify the low hanging fruit versus more difficult to achieve advancements. The goal of this meetup is to engage the individuals, make them understand the potential value and to capture the ideas.

Demonstrate added value

The second step of the process implements the first real world application(s) of smart manufacturing as a Proof of Concept (PoC). The ideas collected during the first stage are excellent sources for selecting a PoC. However, in order to maximize success, the project has to meet certain requirements: 

• Requires low budget; 
• Has a potential for high (and fast) ROI; 
• Can be realized within a couple of weeks. 

The project should be accessible to anyone who’s interested and it should be advertised across the entire organization in order to increase support for Industry 4.0. For large organizations, it might be wise to start multiple small - agile - PoC’s, based on the various technologies used by Industry 4.0. Please note that the PoC is not a lasting solution, but rather a tool to show the potential of smart manufacturing to the organization. 

Envision, Strategize & Master planning

Defining a core-team, future ambitions and goals, and setting-up the holistic transformation processes is part of the next step in the transformation. 

Core team

Within this step, the first thing that needs to be done is to set up a strategic cross-departmental core-team. This team needs to consist of early adopters, individuals who are open to innovate, and willing to think outside the box. Again, in this team it is important to have a C-level sponsor, and a transformation leader involved. 

It is essential that all key aspects of the organization are represented, but it’s best to keep the group size small. Occasionally, the group size could be temporarily expanded for specific expertise or a better integration within the company. 

Envision the future

After the assembly of the core-team, it is important to further educate them, and explore the potential of Smart Industry through a relaxed brainstorm. A one-day session, away from the organization’s site will set the mood and facilitate free thinking. 

The transformation Leader should lead the day and ensure it is as interactive as possible. The goal of the brainstorm is to envision 10-years into the future, where the company is fully operational according to Industry 4.0 standards, and to write these ideas down. Any thoughts on how this would look like are welcome, and all those ideas will be organized with sticky notes on an effort and impact matrix (figure 1). 

The result of the day will be an elaborate illustration of the organization's future and ideas for value generation. It’s best to start new projects related to low-hanging fruit and start with the bigger projects as the confidence for Industry 4.0 increases.
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Defining future goals

For a successful transformation to Industry 4.0, it is vital to specify the goals of the organization. The goals consist of three parts, a long-term heading, a medium-term heading, and a short-term heading.

A long-term heading outlines the goals and ambitions for the future, 10 to 15 years away. Due to the fact that this is very far away in a rapid and ever changing world, the heading doesn’t need to be in depth, or smart. It should fit on a single sheet of paper and needs to provide an aim for future goals, rather than SMART goals. 

Once the long-term has been defined, SMART mid- and short-terms goals can be set, in line with the long term vision. By setting mid- and short-term goals, concrete and measurable targets can be achieved, enabling initial purchases and decision making.

Once the vision, heading and goals are defined, it should pass the approval of C-level management. The C-level core-team member should facilitate this request. 

Self-sustaining transformation

Once the future heading is set, the low hanging-fruit projects have been spotted, and the organization is ready for more action, the transformation can begin. 

The transformation is a process of continuous improvement and is governed by two main processes: strategic processes and transformation processes. 

The strategic processes are related to the organizational change necessary for Industry 4.0. These processes are meant to guide and govern the transformation, based on the defined vision and goals. These cover transformation governance, training and guidance, and solution governance.

The transformation processes relate to the operations necessary for the implementation of Smart Industry projects. These processes realize the actual steps for a holistic implementation of the transformation in an Agile Scrum like sprints. 

Strategic processes

The transformation governance process manages the transformation to smart manufacturing. It ensures that the transformation is in line with the vision, and that goals are being met. This governance is  achieved through periodical reviews by the core-team. These reviews usually contain an assessment of the goals, Industry 4.0 projects, and scale-up duration. 

Training, Guidance & Engagement processes empower and engage individuals within an organization. These processes internally advertise the journey to Industry 4.0, encourage individual and team involvement, provide training to those who are interested, and provide guidance to realize a minimum viable idea within the transformation.

Solution governance manages all technical activities that ensure the integration of Smart Industry within the existing architecture. The exact form of these activities depend on the existing architecture and the new solutions. For the solution governance, we recommend to appoint a solution governance leader with a lot of technical expertise, and a deep understanding of people and change management. In our experience, this is the only approach that can almost seamlessly match the “old” with the “new”, both in terms of technologies, ways of thinking, and the transformation. 

Transformation processes

The transformation process realizes the operational side of the transformation to Smart Industry. In essence, during the transformation processes, the Industry 4.0 projects will be managed and implemented. The Scrum project management framework is preferred for these projects, as it is designed to work with tight deadlines, complex (and sometimes changing) requirements, and unique features. Circumstances that will most certainly be met during Smart Industry projects. 

If you want to learn more about Agile ways of working, and the Scrum framework we would love to refer you to the ATLASSIAN Agile Coach. 

Feedback & celebration

Celebrating and advertising success is essential during the transformation to Industry 4.0, and may be regarded as the final (ongoing) step in the process.

Successful projects that for example increased the added value for customers, or increased work pleasure for employees need to be advertised across the entire organization. Publicly recognizing the submitter for his or her great idea, highlighting collaboration between departments, and praising the developers who made the improvement should not be taken lightly.

It is crucial to continually motivate and empower your employees to be the driving force of change. They know best when and where value can be generated, and they are in the best position to adapt to changes, from the inside of the organization. However, in some cases, some ideas are better than others, but keep providing the involved employees with feedback on the status. Not providing any feedback will slowly eliminate the support from the organization for any transformation. 

Start the transformation!

Now that you know the basics of the transformation to Industry 4.0, it is time to start with the implementation! Feel free to contact us, by leaving your information down below, to tailor the roadmap to your organizational needs in order to get optimal results. 

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Credits main image: Industrial revolution vector created by jcomp