An approach to modernising manufacturing operations
31 October 2024Manufacturing / Production Technology, Hardware & Services
By Sarika Andhee, marketing leader at Schneider Electric.
Businesses are often hesitant to embrace change, particularly when it involves crucial operations. Many organisations and industries worry that upgrading the infrastructure could cause disruptions and downtime, impeding productivity.
The fear is not entirely unfounded, as it is often based on historical examples of unsuccessful and costly migrations. However, a seamless transition can be achieved by carefully planning and executing the change.
Organisations tend to have specific concerns about modernising their business processes, with cost being a major consideration for many, in the current tough economic environment. As a result, companies might be reluctant to invest in solutions that they do not fully trust, or unless they can be sure of the return on investment. While many companies are keen on innovation, they often hesitate to deploy new technologies.
Traditional thinking and an entrenched mindset could hinder business profitability, especially when it comes to adopting disruptive technologies that are still relatively new to the market.
Change management
To ensure that the modernisation of their processes is a smooth and successful transition, companies must implement change management, which is a systematic approach to dealing with the transition or transformation of an organisation’s goals, processes or technologies. Change management is key to effecting change, controlling and helping people to adapt to change.
Additionally, a consultative partner can be engaged to assist in identifying the best modernisation or optimisation approach, which can simplify the process and help businesses overcome the fear of change. Key to this is ongoing maintenance, support and consultative advice.
A consultative partner can ultimately help organisations identify the best way to modernise their processes by pinpointing and understanding the main pain points that need to be addressed and using this information to optimise the modernisation process. Once the pain points have been identified, the partner will usually present various options – each with different cost structures – to tackle them. It is important to note that with a consultative approach, organisations can also discuss budget and priorities so the modernisation can be carried out in a phased manner.
Training and supporting staff
Along with developing a modernisation strategy and providing the right solutions for the optimisation of the required business processes, an expert partner will also help businesses train and support their employees. This is an essential part of the process, where the partner understands the needs of an organisation and provides guidance to the organisation throughout the entire journey of business process modernisation.
At the same time, a consultative partner can also help businesses ensure that their operations are running smoothly and efficiently by ensuring that the modernisation project includes the handover, training, and support phases. During modernisation, there are bound to be some snags and teething problems, and this is where training and support come in. Business operations’ modernisation journey that is guided by the right partner from beginning to end, will help to overcome the fear of change that many organisations face.
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