Lean - prerequisite for Industry 4.0 and target-oriented digitization
The buzzwords Industry 4.0, Internet of Things and Big Data are omnipresent. In our everyday lives, we own more and more devices and objects that network and communicate via the Internet, e.g. home lighting, coffee machines, lawn mowers and even production facilities.
The advantages of the latest technological developments are obvious: Never before have we had such extensive information at our disposal to make decisions. Given this starting position, the first priority for many companies is to expand their own business model. In this context, it is important to "think outside the box" in order to generate real potential for a company through networking.
The digital transformation of a company aims to use digital technologies and business models to adapt to the changing market and further increase the company's performance. It is important to understand that the basis for success is the corporate culture and the involvement of employees. Employees need to understand why these changes are coming and what their role is in the future.
Business Agility
Customer orientation will also be the starting point for all activities in the digital world. Customers today are better informed than ever before - long before they make a purchase. They are also becoming increasingly involved in the value chain, with the result of increasing customization and higher expectations of delivery service. Digital business agility is thus becoming a key competitive advantage, which according to Michael Wade's model (IMD, June 2015) is based on the following three pillars:
- Hyperawareness (availability data and information)
- Informed Decision Making
- Fast Execution
Decentralized decisions
Digitizing processes and networking systems only makes sense if they are up-to-date, optimized, efficient and lean - free of waste. In order to constantly adapt and improve corporate agility to market conditions, it is necessary to map and analyze overarching processes with value stream mapping and to eliminate waste. However, the flow of information will enable new, direct paths between intelligent actors in the course of networking, and decisions can increasingly be made decentrally. In the future, improvements will be suggested by intelligent machines in addition to humans, and lean production will thus become a self-learning system.
Use lean approach
Lean, with its approach to lean and waste-free processes, is the basis and prerequisite for Industry 4.0 and targeted digitization. The digitization of production promises new opportunities to make production more efficient or even revolutionize it. However, only a few companies can plan production from scratch and take all the possibilities of Industrie 4.0 into account. Especially for companies that want to digitally upgrade an existing production, it is important to demonstrate an approach that uses the proven lean approach and at the same time integrates the possibilities of digitization.
Author: Christoph Lustenberger, Dr. sc. techn., dipl. Lebensmittel-Ing. ETH, is Senior Consultant at Wertfabrik AG. www.wertfabrik.ch / www.wertblog.ch
