Growing digital maturity in the manufacturing industry
The manufacturing industry is under increasing pressure to operate more efficiently, flexibly, and competitively. Digitalisation plays a crucial role in this transformation, but in their digital journey, many manufacturers struggle to fully realise its potential. Feike de Groot and Robert te Vaarwerk from Emixa outline why growing digital maturity is so challenging and what can be done.
The transition to a more automated and data-driven way of working in manufacturing is often slower than desired because companies encounter various obstacles.
No Clear Digitisation Strategy
Many organisations understand that digitisation is necessary, but do not know which technologies and approaches are best suited to their specific situation. Without a clear strategy, digitisation initiatives often remain stand-alone projects without coherence. This lack of a structured implementation plan leads to small, isolated improvements instead of a broad, effective transformation.
Limited Insights into Return on Investment
Digitisation brings changes, but without a clear picture of the expected benefits, decision-making often remains absent. This lack of understanding makes it difficult to justify digitisation initiatives internally, making companies hesitant to take the next step even when the benefits are visible. This procrastination increases the risk of organisations being left behind in a market where digitisation is increasingly the norm.
Shortage of Staff & Skills
Digitisation is not only about technology, but also about the people who can successfully implement and apply it. Many companies struggle with a shortage of employees to carry out digitisation projects. One in three entrepreneurs experience this challenge and say they struggle to find and retain qualified staff. This shortage not only delays digital transformation but also hinders innovation.
Financial Constraints and Economic Uncertainty
In addition to internal challenges, external factors also play a major role. Rising energy prices, falling margins and economic uncertainty make companies reluctant to invest in digitalisation. Although the long-term benefits are clear, financial constraints are causing many organisations to postpone their digitisation plans.
Lack of Top Management Commitment
A successful digital transformation starts with a strong vision and active management commitment. When this support is lacking, digitisation projects often get stuck in the planning phase or fragmented initiatives without coherence. Without a clear direction and commitment, opportunities are missed and inefficiencies arise that, in the long run, weaken a company’s competitive position.
Growing Digital Maturity
Digital maturity determines how well an organisation uses technology and data to operate more efficiently, flexibly and competitively. Manufacturing companies that invest in building their digital capabilities reap the benefits – they strengthen their digital core and gain a competitive advantage in areas such as efficiency, effectiveness, innovation, and people commitment.
An important part of the journey to digital maturity is the digital thread, which links Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. This integrated information flow ensures that all departments always have access to real-time and accurate product information. This leads to better collaboration, more effective decision-making and higher levels of process control.
To strengthen the digital thread, the value of data is leveraged: smart applications and integrated solutions are essential. Smart applications, like IoT devices and low-code applications such as Mendix, collect and analyse data in real-time, allowing companies to respond to changes immediately and prevent problems before they escalate. In addition, they allow users to engage with systems or with the organisation.
Integrated systems allow PLM and ERP platforms to communicate and exchange data effortlessly, resulting in more efficient and streamlined operations.
AI and data-driven insights play a crucial role in this context. By analysing large amounts of data, machine learning algorithms can recognise patterns and trends that would otherwise remain hidden. This helps companies make better-informed decisions, optimise processes and continuously improve product quality.
The Digital Maturity Assessment
To gain insight into the state of digital maturity, manufacturing companies can conduct an assessment. This approach offers a holistic approach to analyse and optimise production processes, creating a complete picture of the production environment and providing insight into opportunities for improvement.
With these insights, companies can improve individual processes, remove inefficiencies and bottlenecks, and adopt smarter ways of working.
