How Manufacturers Can Succeed In Their Digital Transformation Journey

The IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 58.9 in October 2020—the highest since mid-2008—from 56.8 in September. A reading over 50 indicates economic expansion. In reality, manufacturing demands are becoming increasingly volatile and customized and very tough predict the demand given the current market situation and needs of export markets. You need a smart manufacturing practice that is integrated, collaborative and digitally continuous, to transition successfully from “mass production to mass customization”, and to be able to cater to the needs of well-informed customer.

Analysts expect a successful rebound in 2021, re-energizing the journey towards Industry 4.0 enabling smart manufacturing is essential, to not only survive but thrive in the new world. This is a critical period for companies to relook at their implementation roadmap, and optimize every stage of manufacturing process for greater agility.

Manufacturers need to embrace new tools and gain from advancements, such as the modernization of plants, industrial IoT, and digital collaboration to power smart factories of the future. As manufacturers transition to recovery phase, the search is on for the fastest way to ramp up production while still respecting all safety regulations. In these uncertain times, the need for digital transformation is greater than ever. Digital acceleration allows manufacturers to create optimized contingency plans that take into account real-time data and conditions. It helps them understand the impact of disruptions on supply chains and manufacturing operations. This is where the virtual twin has a major role to play. However, this requires manufacturers to derive maximum business value from their digital investments and there cannot be any misalignment between technology and business goals.

As companies strive to increase throughput, streamline planning forecasts, and deliver on time and within budgets, they need a clear strategy to unlock measurable ROI and sustained value from digital transformation.

Assessing the Manufacturing Sector’s Needs and Pain-Points during Digital Transformation

An in-depth survey uncovered some of the key pain-points characterizing digital transformation for companies. These include:

Unable to identify benefits of Digital transformation – Research reveals that 65% are not satisfied with their ability to identify all the benefits from a digital transformation project. Sixty-nine percentage are struggling to quantify the benefits accurately and assign them a clear value.
Limited clarity on use-cases – Due to lack of visibility into the benefits, 38% are worried about overstating benefits to obtain funding – without setting clear ROI targets. For 64%, constructing a robust business case was so fraught with issues that senior management lost interest and did not commit to the project.

Digital Strategy not aligned to business goals – The strategic direction for a digital transformation program is often out of sync with a manufacturing company’s business goals. Over 70% believe that deployment has a better chance of success if the direction/roadmap is aligned with exact bottom-line goals.

Addressing these unique needs is essential if companies are to extract maximum value from their technology investments and build a digital landscape in line with Industry 4.0 targets. One-way some companies try to achieve this is by approaching a third-party vendor.

Third-Party Support or a Smarter Alternative?

To get digital transformation right, manufacturers must start with a list of five core questions that will determine the road ahead.

Is the manufacturing setup mature enough for digital transformation?
Will the solution meet company business objectives?
How are transformation milestones prioritized?
Which pain points will the solution address, and in what order?
What is the estimated ROI and/or time to break even?

The roadmap will build on these questions, depending on the scale, nature, and focus areas for the manufacturing business.

However, by approaching a third-party vendor, companies risk obtaining garbled insights into the future of transformation. This is because vendors are typically unfamiliar with the precise technology and in-depth strategy a digital transformation solution entails. This ambiguity in understanding leads to overstated benefits, protracted implementation timelines, and the absence of predictable ROI on the road to Industry 4.0.

Therefore, it is more advisable to “look inwards,” as it were, and build internal competencies for assessing, planning, and deploying a digital transformation solution with minimal third-party involvement. This would unlock several benefits, such as better synchronicity between business and technology, the ability to pivot as per dynamic internal requirements, and extracting value-adding benefits.

On this transformation journey, it is advisable for manufacturing companies to collaborate with the first-party digital solution provider, as they are the ones with the most in-depth solution knowledge and implementation experience.

How Dassault Systèmes DELMIA Value Model Framework Addresses this Challenge

At Dassault Systèmes, we are committed to supporting and growing our customer base in India’s burgeoning manufacturing industry through successful digital transformation and effective purchase/implementation roadmaps. Dassault Systèmes DELMIA helps manufacturers to collaborate, model, optimize, and perform their operations, amplifying market success and helping to realize their vision for smart factories.

DELMIA, powered by the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, enables successful digital transformation in manufacturing by intersecting the virtual world of modeling/simulation with the “real world” of operations. We recognize companies’ need to link their current landscape maturity with to-be-achieved business objectives and the technology intervention that will help them get there.

For this reason, we offer specialized Manufacturing Consulting Services to:

Help India’s manufacturing sector navigate digital transformation
Refine technology purchase and implementation decisions with ROI in mind
Extract predictable and continuous value from digital solutions

We at Dassault Systemes believe in providing value to our customers and we do this through DELMIA Value Model Framework. This value engagement model comprises of five key services based on various phases of the project. The services are directly in tune with the five questions that determine the road ahead for manufacturing transformation. Further, manufacturers can better understand the solution deployment roadmap and the business purpose for each phase of implementation.

As a result, companies can estimate potential value and success opportunities even before they invest.

Driving Growth in the Rebound with Expertly Planned and Executed Transformation

As India’s manufacturing sector enters a critical phase, astute planning, business-aligned road mapping, and individualized solution delivery will be integral for success. Dassault Systèmes has worked with 1000+ companies on driving manufacturing growth. We connect our assessment service (i.e., before the project) to the value outcome service (i.e., after the implementation) so that there is a clear line of accountability and outcome predictability.

Companies like Jaguar & Land Rover, Tesla Motors, Daikin Industries, CLAAS Tractor, Kobelco Construction machinery, Agco, Doosan Infracore, Airbus, Bell Helicopter, DHL, and others have leveraged Dassault Systèmes DELMIA’s expertise to achieve quantifiable manufacturing outcomes.

In today’s context, a manufacturing company operates not as a vertically integrated entity, but as a collaborative conglomerate, which connects the entire value chain of numerous supplier partners, design partners, and service partners. The purpose of all manufacturing companies are, on the one hand, to create value to their stakeholders and, on the other to ensure customer delight by delivering world class products with right quality & right price, and in the right location at right time. We look forward to collaborate with these companies in India as they step into next stage of manufacturing evolution with Industry 4.0.