Technology With Purpose: Turning manufacturing investments into impact
For some time now, manufacturers have been slowly but steadily upgrading their technology on the factory floor, moving on from legacy equipment, non-digital processes, and physical paper trails. These strides toward advanced technology are not only beneficial for operational efficiency and productivity but—increasingly—imperative for continued market competitiveness. The manufacturers who don’t embrace digital transformation will fall behind those that do.
So far, just over one-quarter (26%) of manufacturers currently rely on advanced tech, but that number is expected to swell to 68% by 2030. Manufacturers across sub-sectors are making serious moves to intertwine their operations with technology—an objectively good thing for those businesses, the broader industry, and the consumers around the world who will benefit from faster, higher-quality production.
But such major upgrades could quickly go from overhaul to overwhelm if not handled strategically. Here’s what manufacturers should consider as they move forward with advanced technology.
Finding your “why.”
It’s clear that adopting advanced technology is now a must for manufacturers. But here’s the tricky thing: you still need to have a good reason to do it. If you invest in advanced tech only because you know you’re “supposed to,” your results will be extremely limited. Before leaders even decide where, when, and how they’re going to invest, they need to be clear on the “why.” In other words, they need something to aim for.
Identifying your targeted outcomes starts by taking stock of operations: where they succeed, where they get bottlenecked, and even where they fail. Maybe quality assurance always seems to take longer than you think it should; maybe teams frequently have to perform rework on Line 1; maybe production often stalls because you’re waiting on a shipment of a key ingredient. Build your list of shortcomings and rank them in order of importance or impact. This “menu” of needed improvements will directly inform your investment priorities.
Making tech investments in this grounded way helps leaders not fall victim to hype. And there’s a lot of hype out there. Some of it is deserved—after all, we do now have access to incredible technology—but some of it (e.g., hype around agentic AI in manufacturing operational scenarios) seems premature.
In an industry like manufacturing, where blindly adopting technology means putting your operations, product quality, and worker safety on the line, it’s risky to pursue hype for hype’s sake. By grounding investment decisions in actual business needs, leaders can gain all the benefits of advanced tech while protecting business continuity and integrity.
Getting implementation right the first time.
With an informed list of desired outcomes and improvements, manufacturing leaders can begin the implementation phase. Partnering with system integrators and third-party experts will add tremendous value—they can help leaders turn their menu of desired improvements into a shortlist of specific solutions. It will likely be the case that a given solution can help meet several needs at once. Guided by expert knowledge, leaders can begin building their implementation roadmaps.
I use the word “roadmap” because implementation is a journey. It’s not a quick process. At least, not when you do it properly.
Even if you’re just adopting a singular new capability, it simply takes time to integrate that tool into your existing system, teach teams to use it, map out new processes, address inevitable speed bumps, and begin seeing improved outcomes. Attempting to integrate several new solutions at once can jeopardize operational continuity, team morale, product quality, and customer satisfaction. Minimize the number of new variables being introduced by making implementation a gradual, methodical process.
The more advanced technology you successfully implement, the more efficient your organization will become—and the more readily you’ll be able to handle the next implementation when it comes time to move forward.
Choosing between à la carte and a combo meal.
Something else manufacturing leaders will need to consider is whether they’ll opt to move forward with a series of singular, standalone solutions versus an “all in one” solutions suites.
What’s most important is that leaders (with third-party expert guidance as necessary) make the choice that aligns best with their business needs. But, generally speaking, there is a balance to be struck. A series of standalone solutions, each with a very specific purpose, might be nimbler and require a smaller overall footprint than a bigger, more comprehensive solution. However, every one of those standalone solutions will require its own separate integration.
Sometimes, opting for an all-in-one tool will make the most sense. Solutions like MES often have countless different offerings ranging from quality management to inventory management to labor scheduling and more. What’s more, these capabilities are often modular, so businesses can still take the same slow and steady approach to implementation while ultimately getting a whole slew of features that, right out of the box, are designed to work together.
Whether leaders opt for à la carte or the combo meal, they’ll have a lot to look forward to. Once the dust settles on implementation, they’ll be met with a facility that’s smarter, more efficient, and more responsive to inevitable disruptions.
Investing in your facility’s future
As leaders navigate the discovery, research, and implementation processes, they should stay grounded in real business needs. This means considering:
- What your facility actually needs; what improvements are necessary.
- Which tools will generate the desired outcomes, and which are the highest priority.
- How your team’s day-to-days will change, and how they’ll need to be supported.
Ultimately, the goal is to do more than merely adopt advanced technology. With the right approach, leaders can build smarter, more resilient operations that can continuously evolve with the market.
