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AI. Automation. ERP. Robotics. Digital transformation.
Manufacturers have more technology available to them than ever before. And plenty of reasons to invest in it.
Growth may be putting existing systems under pressure. Customers want better information. Processes that worked when the business was smaller are becoming increasingly difficult to manage. Competitors are automating. AI is creating new possibilities almost by the week.
So, it is understandable that a transformation project can begin with a conversation about technology.
Which system should we buy?
But perhaps that's the wrong place to start.
The better question is:
What problem are we actually trying to solve?
Don't start with what the technology can do
Technology demonstrations can be compelling.
A supplier shows you dashboards, automation, real-time reporting and functionality that looks considerably better than the collection of spreadsheets and disconnected systems you're currently using.
It is easy to start imagining what the technology could do for your business.
But Angela Fumpson's advice in The Manufacturing Playbook is to reverse the conversation.
Don't begin with:
“What can this software do?”
Begin with:
“What are we actually trying to achieve?”
What needs to become easier?
What needs to become faster?
What needs to become better?
What is preventing the business from growing?
What experience are you trying to create for your customers — and for your employees?
Only then should technology enter the conversation.
Otherwise, there is a real danger that you simply digitise an existing problem
Understand how the business really works
Before deciding how a process should change, you need to understand how it works today.
And that doesn't mean sitting in a meeting room looking at a process diagram.
Walk the business.
Follow the journey from an initial customer enquiry through production and delivery to getting paid.
Talk to the people involved.
Where is information entered more than once?
Where are people waiting for somebody else before they can continue?
Where are spreadsheets being used because the main system doesn't quite do what's needed?
Where are mistakes occurring?
Where does knowledge exist only in one person's head?
Manufacturing businesses can contain enormous amounts of tribal knowledge. The documented process isn't necessarily the real process.
And that matters.
If you design a new system around the process, you think you have rather than the one you're actually running, you can build problems into the new solution from day one.
Don't immediately fix what you find
Once you've understood today's problems, there is another temptation.
Start fixing them.
But that can also constrain your thinking.
If the question is simply “How do we improve this process?”, you may end up designing a slightly better version of what you already have.
Instead, step away from the current process for a moment and ask:
What does excellence look like?
If this part of the business worked as well as it possibly could, what would it look like?
What would customers experience?
What information would employees have available to them?
What would be easier?
What would disappear altogether?
Only then compare that future state with today's reality and identify what needs to change.
The process Angela sets out is deliberately sequential:
UNDERSTAND → IMAGINE → DEFINE → DESIGN → DELIVER → EMBED
Notice where Design comes.
Not first.
Now decide what technology you actually need
Once you understand the current business, know what you're trying to achieve and have defined the gaps, you're in a much better position to specify a solution.
What are the genuine must-haves?
What would be useful but isn't essential?
What information do people need to make better decisions?
What processes need to change?
What should be automated?
What shouldn't?
At that point, technology becomes an enabler of the business you want to create, rather than the thing determining what that business should look like.
As the Playbook puts it:
The technology follows the desired business. The business shouldn't be redesigned simply around what the technology happens to do.
There's a simple test: has work become easier?
One of the promises of digital transformation is that it will make a business more efficient.
So, look at what actually happens to the people using it.
If an operator now has to enter the same information three times, has the process improved?
If managers are spending hours creating reports, has technology saved them time?
If planners don't trust the stock information and continue maintaining their own spreadsheets, has the new system really solved the problem?
Technology that adds friction rather than removing it is unlikely to deliver the transformation you hoped for.
Angela has a good way of expressing this:
“Digitisation should give people superpowers, not give them another job to do.”
It's a useful test for almost any technology investment.
Start with the headaches
If you're considering a significant technology investment, you don't necessarily need to begin with a lengthy transformation programme.
Start by identifying the problems that are getting in the way of the business.
What's taking too much time?
Where are you constantly firefighting?
Are deadlines being missed?
Is customer information difficult to find?
Are managers exhausted?
Are spreadsheets and disconnected systems making it harder to scale?
Then prioritise the few problems that, if solved, would have the greatest impact on the next stage of the business.
Now you have a much better brief for talking to technology providers.
Instead of asking:
“What can your system do?”
you can ask:
“This is what we're trying to achieve. How can your technology help us do it?”
It's a subtle change in question.
But it puts the manufacturer back in control of the transformation.
Because the objective isn't to become a more digital manufacturer.
It's to become a better manufacturer and use technology where it helps you get there.
