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FOOD & BEVERAGE
THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR ALL BUDGETS
Large global enterprises are making rapid strides in digital transformation, but the benefits aren’t just reserved for the large companies, says Owen McLoughlin, key account manager, SolutionsPT
by advancement. We have also experienced the barriers that are holding many companies back from realising their true potential. Often companies can, wrongfully, believe that successful digital transformation projects are reserved for large companies with big budgets who have the capacity to shut down production while they integrate new and expensive assets or software. In fact, this isn’t true at all. Digital transformation is achievable for every enterprise. When seeking a gold standard of digital
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transformation for inspiration, you can’t get much better than Princes Group, a sprawling global enterprise responsible for many household brands that we all enjoy. An important step in the Princes’ digital transformation journey revolved around digitising a manual task that involved a lot of repetitive, task-based, and time-consuming human input. This actually mirrors the experience of countless small and medium sized manufacturers who are making specialised or personalised products, and are often keen to keep costs low and operations simple. The old, ‘if it isn’t broke, why fix it?’, approach. As with Princes, this approach may work for a long time and not present any major issues, but it presents challenges of scalability, and does little to assure long-term sustainability in the face of the more efficient, digitally transformed operations of new market entrants. Companies of a smaller size may ask, I am
not looking to scale, and we only create one product, why should I invest in digital transformation? The answer lies in efficiency and profitability. No matter what the product
5 JULY/AUGUST 2022 | PROCESS & CONTROL 2
s digital transformation partners for a wide array of sectors, we have seen, firsthand, the benefits made possible
is, a paper-based reporting system is prone to errors and inaccuracy. As well as this, the key operators that are spending their time completing reports have less capacity for value-adding tasks – in short, they are not as productive as they might be. So companies that fail to move away from outdated reporting will never be running at their optimal efficiency. And that’s just the workforce efficiency. A similar case can be made with regards to equipment and even maintenance. This aspect of digital transformation that
automates reporting and creates a single digital thread is available to any company of any size, with very little disruption. It also opens up a plethora of future capabilities like artificial intelligence, digitising skills, remote working or market agility. Small companies may not need those capabilities right now but, delaying the timeline of digital transformation will leave them struggling to reach the levels of competitors. The real question for those businesses is, do you want your company to hold its market position or grow? If the answer is yes grow, (and it always is!) then it is time to embark on your digital transformation journey. Digital transformation is a journey that can start small and grow as the business grows.
What can be achieved with a single product and get to work instantly is the right software choice and this should be seen as the critical building block. This allows manufacturers of any size to build towards a single digital thread that runs through the entire enterprise. Not only does this offer the prospect of eliminating paper-based reporting, it also promises improved accuracy and efficiency. The resulting ease of flow for data means that there will no longer be a disconnect between the boardroom and the plant floor, each integral member of the company is working from the same information and optimising their time to deliver value. Referring back to the Princes Group
example, their building block of digital transformation was AVEVA System Platform software. Combining both archived historical data and real-time process data, they were able to implement a proactive maintenance programme while having an enterprise-wide view of operations from the plant floor all the way to HQ. Princes Group saw an immediate 10% boost in Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE), and that only scratches the surface of what’s possible. We want companies of any size to know this rapid efficiency improvement is available to all, it doesn’t have to be a cause for concern and production doesn’t have to stop. Successful digital transformation can be affordable, incremental, and most importantly tailored to you. Companies that look to large enterprises for
inspiration should feel empowered that they can reach the same level of digital transformation and future proof their operations for whatever may come. It all starts with the right building blocks and they can be moulded to your specific needs with the right digital transformation partner.
SolutionsPT
www.solutionspt.com
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