Understanding the role of digital continuity
Digital Continuity is about bringing different systems together to provide a joined-up view of products or processes throughout their lifecycle. This is not just an IT issue, but a profound business transformation.
Following the 2020 global pandemic, the industrial world has undergone a major transformation – affecting the entire value chain from suppliers to resellers. Meanwhile, users of products expect more personalization and higher performance, with user experience and ease of maintenance being just as important as technical performance. Sustainability expectations have also grown, as companies and individuals aim to reduce their carbon footprint.
To respond to these challenges, the industrial cycle must reinvent itself, moving from a linear and siloed operation to a collaborative one.
Traditionally, engineers designed, the supply chain delivered parts, manufacturers made, and salespeople sold. Now, designers need to factor in the views of salespeople and supply chain limitations, and routinely update manufacturers, in a fluid environment. Such digital collaboration will enable co-design; and optimize end-to-end processes from engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and customer service. This will ultimately mean better products, and allow a better return on investments.
Digital Continuity starts by answering the question: What do we want to produce? We then need to define the data to be collected, the sources of that data, and the company functions that need to be coordinated, and the partners that need to be sought.
These will be heavily determined by two things: variability and volume. The variation between two products (eg. a fishing boat and a yacht) and the volume to be produced (eg. one rocket or many cars) will significantly dictate the data we need and the sources of that data, eg. an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), or a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
Digital Continuity forces the prioritization of the systems that need to be implemented - and then thinks about how to connect them.
Ultimately, Digital Continuity is a methodological approach based on change management. The goal is clear: reduce cycle times - by 20, 30, or even 50%.
At the technological level, Digital Continuity is about the connection between different platforms around shared databases.
This involves a mastery of each system to maximize the potential of each. Then, they need to be appropriately connected to provide a global view of the product and company to all users. ‘Appropriate’ is the key word, this is not about ‘connecting everything’, but identifying how connections can produce value. This needs not just IT skills, but a well governed process that brings together the stakeholders who will use the system.
Simulation of the final product, by integrating data from different systems into a single system
The smooth integration of subsystem designs by different teams into the overall design
The direct integration of macro-level interdependencies, eg. integrating fixed and mobile equipment with products, assets, the factory plan, etc.
Improved integration between software and connected hardware
Improved inventory management
Working more closely and efficiently with subcontractors and suppliers
Designing and optimizing for environmental requirements
Historically perceived as a pure IT project, Digital Continuity initiatives within businesses often collide with financial and technical realities, power balances, and organizational structures.
Indeed, it is difficult (or impossible) to set up unified data lakes when machine connectivity is limited, and available data is unstructured. It’s also difficult to carry out cross-functional projects when different functions are structured in airtight silos within companies and where the culture of collaboration is weak, and where collective and individual objectives are insufficiently aligned.
The effectiveness of Digital Continuity projects lies both in an understanding of the different platforms, and of the business. It is helped by understanding what can be achieved, for example, by studying other sectors that are further ahead.
Moreover, the role of teams and the human element is too often underestimated. Because addressing digital discontinuities requires us to stop thinking locally, to start thinking globally, and that can be a complete paradigm shift for people. Engineers must shift from making the best technically possible system, to making a system that allows for the best possible overall product - possibly at the expense of the subsystem.
That can be a hard mindset to change. Digital Continuity is, then, a cultural change as much as a technological one.
Author JACQUES BACRY Executive Vice President –Digital Continuity & Convergence Group Offer Leader
