Benoit Nemery, a professor of toxicology at the Belgian university K.U. Leuven, has long been involved, together with researchers from the University of Lubumbashi, in investigating the “collateral damage” caused by mining activities in the copper-cobalt belt in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“It’s very chaotic, very dirty, and very obviously polluted,” he said.
Since 2006, he’s visited the country—one of the world’s poorest—annually in an effort to better understand the health effects of cobalt exposure among those who live around mines and metal processing industries. But when he arrived in Kolwezi, the heart of the Congolese mining region, on a 2014 trip, the conditions were unlike anything he and his local colleagues had ever seen before.
Just a few months earlier, a man had discovered cobalt ore, or heterogenite, in the middle of Kolwezi’s working-class Kasulo neighborhood. Soon, amateur prospectors, or “creuseurs,” descended on the area with hand shovels and pickaxes and began their own small-scale “artisanal” mining operations.
“We’d seen artisanal mining in many places but never in the way we’d see in Kasulo. It was spectacular and tragic, really,” Nemery said. “I have pictures where you can see everything had been turned over. There were pits 20 meters deep, and a lot of rubble everywhere, and children playing around in it. Some people were keeping the minerals in their own homes.”
Explore blockchain’s impact on industrial supply chains
Over two brief surveys, in 2014 and 2015, Nemery and his colleagues took biological samples of dozens of cobalt workers and Kasulo residents, including many children. The results, which were published in Nature Sustainability in September 2018, were disturbing. Concentrations of cobalt and accompanying trace metals in the urine of those tested were, he said, “among the highest we’ve ever seen.” According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the United States, cobalt exposure can harm the eyes, skin, heart, and lungs, and may even lead to cancer.
Officials have since cracked down on artisanal mining in Kasulo, but the practice continues throughout the country. Today, the DRC remains the world’s biggest supplier of the metal, a crucial component in lithium-ion batteries that power a wide range of products including smartphones, laptops, and electric cars. According to a report from Morgan Stanley, cobalt demand is expected to multiply eightfold by 2026.
But while many companies source their cobalt from safer, large-scale industrial mines, there’s currently no surefire way for companies to prove that to customers, since cobalt, when smelted, is regularly combined with metals from a variety of sources.
“Everybody wants to make sure the products they’re using don’t contribute to worker violations or promote child labor. There’s an incentive for companies to prove that their products are ethically sourced,” said Max Nelson, a Global Business Development Executive for Industrial Products with IBM Global Markets.
Today, a consortium comprising Ford Motor Company, IBM, LG Chem and RCS Global is working on a way for companies to finally offer that proof to customers all the way from point of extraction. Together, they’re working on a first of its kind pilot to demonstrate how materials in the cobalt supply chain can be responsibly produced, traded, and processed from mine to end manufacturer. The key to the program is blockchain.
“What differentiates this program is the transparency, the trust, and the security that this platform is built on,” Nelson said.
The pilot, which began in December 2018 with oversight from responsible sourcing group RCS Global, starts at an industrial mine site in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The cobalt produced there is traced through the supply chain as it travels from mine and smelter to LG Chem’s cathode and battery plant in South Korea, and finally to a Ford plant in the United States. The result is an immutable audit trail, created on the IBM Blockchain Platform and powered by the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric, that can be seen by all permissioned network participants in real time.
“At IBM, we’re organized across 12 different industries, so we have the industry knowledge and leadership to bring this together. That’s how we’ve been successful in bringing in participants across the supply chain,” Nelson said. “We think original equipment manufacturers, aerospace and defense companies, and all these industries across the supply chain will be encouraged to join this platform upon completion of this pilot.”
While the initial focus of the program is large-scale miners, or LSMs, Nelson said the group wants to ultimately expand the initiative to include the kinds of small-scale operations Nemery visited in Kolwezi. If those miners meet internationally ratified responsibility requirements, Nelson said, the consortium stands ready to help them partner with due diligence data providers and, ultimately, join the blockchain network.
“The broader purpose of the network is to make a true positive social impact and help address the root causes of the challenges faced by the artisanal miners,” Nelson said.
Editor’s note: This is a sponsored post from IBM.

Today, Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things are monumental forces in manufacturing, transforming the way companies gather data and do business.
But five years ago, it was a different world. Back then, Keith Jackson, the CTO of UK-based aerospace component manufacturer Meggitt, hadn’t heard of either concept. But he knew he wanted to deploy digital technology at the company.
“We used digital technology all the time ourselves—for shopping, for directions—but then when it came to work, particularly in manufacturing, it was very often job cards and pieces of paper tracking things through the factories,” he said. “We realized that can’t be right.”
Jackson started righting the course shortly thereafter, when he started visiting the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. There, he and a small team of designers began combining cameras, sensors, lasers, and other technologies to create what would ultimately be called the Closed Loop Adaptive Assembly Workbench, or CLAAW.
“We started thinking about how we really embrace the human being and the digital world so they work together,” he said.
CLAAW’s purpose, Jackson said, is to make assembly quicker, easier and more efficient. To that end, it uses laser projection to guide operators through the assembly process, highlighting where components need to be placed. It uses sensors to verify that the component has been positioned properly, and it uses cameras to keep detailed records. Throughout the entire process, the bench captures performance data, which Meggitt can analyze to evaluate and ultimately improve its procedures.
Are you ready for Industry 4.0?
“That’s where IBM comes into it,” he said. “All the data we collect is poured into our local cloud, and we can look at that with our dashboard and tools.”
Jackson and his colleagues are still working to perfect CLAAW before they roll it out to factories across the U.S. and the U.K. in the coming year. But feedback from employees is, so far, overwhelmingly positive.
“People in the factory were invited to come and see it and look at it and comment and give input. In the end they are the experts,” he said. “People looked at it and said, ‘Wow, we like this.’”
Jackson expects CLAAW will go a long way toward improving output, quality, repeatability and traceability at Meggitt. But he said it’s just the first phase of the company’s long-term Industry 4.0 makeover, an initiative known as Meggitt Modular Modifiable Manufacturing, or M4.
Meggitt is part of a growing number of companies using emerging manufacturing technologies to embrace the potential of Industry 4.0. Across the industry, a forthcoming report from IBM’s Institute for Business Value finds, forward-thinking organizations are leveraging AI-enabled IoT. As a result, they’re reporting faster revenue growth and higher return on assets, more agility in their supply chains, and better order performance.
Meggitt, for one, sees its digital transformation as crucial to its future success. At a time when the demand for aircrafts is growing exponentially, Jackson said, component manufacturers need to do everything they can to ensure they deliver quality products at the right scale.
“For us, it’s about faultless delivery. It’s about zero defects. It’s about making the product work the first time, all the time. That’s what our customers want from us,” he said.
Editor’s note: This is a sponsored post from IBM.
 

An education in manufacturing is not what it used to be.
In years past, said Hossein Haj-Hariri, the Dean of the College of Engineering and Computing at the University of South Carolina, aspiring manufacturers learned the fundamentals of mechanics, materials, and machining. More recently, they added robotics to their tool set. But today, he said, “the picture is completely different.”
Now, manufacturing environments are more interdisciplinary, and more technologically complex, than ever before. Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) have fundamentally reshaped the way things are made and maintained.
“You can be a world class computer scientist and potentially become a manufacturing engineer. You walk on a shop floor and 80 percent of the work is programming and getting these systems to communicate with each other,” he said.
The next generation of manufacturers need to have experience with new technologies and new ways of working as early as possible to be successful in the modern workforce. Universities, in partnership with technology companies, can provide that competitive edge.
“As technology progresses, we still have only four years to take a student from high school and turn them into an engineer. So what do you do as you have to teach them more and more?” he said. “The fundamentals they have to learn. But you want them to get into some impactful experiences.”
In the past few years, the University of South Carolina has made some important steps to provide those experiences.
In 2011, it founded the Ronald E. McNair Center for Aerospace Innovation and Research to support industry through aerospace education and research leadership. Five years later, it opened the Center for Applied Innovation and Advanced Analytics — a public/private partnership between USC and IBM—where university faculty and students, along with IBM researchers and private sector researchers work collaboratively to research industrial applications for cutting-edge technologies.
This September, the university created a whole new set of opportunities when it opened a new 15,000 square-foot Digital Transformation Lab. There, students and faculty will work with corporate partners including IBM, Samsung, Siemens and Yaskaw to develop research projects with an array of real-world industrial and consumer applications. With Samsung, they’ll work on smart home appliances. With Siemens, they’ll create industrial robotic simulations and predictive maintenance projects. With Yaskawa, they’ll apply AI and machine learning to improve advanced manufacturing processes.
Displayed in the lab for potential customers, the projects will highlight the benefits of matching university research expertise with the latest in private sector technologies. They’ll also present students a leg up as they begin searching for jobs.
“The students who work on these research projects are well positioned to find the kind of rewarding, high paying jobs that contribute so much to the state,” said USC Office of Economic Engagement Director Bill Kirkland.
Andrea Ogunleye, a civil engineering major at USC, is a student already benefitting from the public/private partnership between the university and IBM. Growing up in Nigeria, she often accompanied her father, a civil engineer, when he did his field work. This summer, she did her own field work — donning a hard hat and inspecting microwave towers — as part of a team of cross-disciplinary students researching how to improve rural internet accessibility in South Carolina.
“I actually hadn’t gotten the chance to do on-site work since I went to college,” she said. “It was awesome to be able to get back into that.”
Today, according to the Federal Communications Commission, about half a million South Carolinians don’t have internet access in their homes. In partnership with South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV) and IBM, USC developed a plan to bring those people internet by mounting equipment on old radio towers, water towers and fire towers.
As part of their research, Ogunleye and the team correlated a map of areas in the state that lacked connectivity with a map of existing tower infrastructure to determine how to provide coverage for the greatest number of people. Eventually, they’ll be able to use IBM Maximo to manage all the physical assets on a common platform. And ultimately, they hope to use Watson Visual Recognition to identify similar solutions for populations lacking internet access nationwide.
For Ogunleye, the ongoing project is a unique opportunity to engage with the kind of cutting-edge enterprise software she may one day be called upon to use in the workplace. For IBM, meanwhile, it’s an opportunity to apply university research to a pernicious local issue with massive industry applications.
In Haj-Hariri’s view, those kinds of mutually beneficial relationships will move both industry and the university forward, and keep them both on the cutting edge as the manufacturing field continues to shift.
“The really long term goal is to create an environment where our college is basically always at the forefront of whatever technology comes to the table. We want to be there in partnership with industry partners, the state government and the federal government to come up with best solutions and come up with the best opportunities for our students,” he said.
Editor’s note: This is a sponsored post from IBM.

Hannover MLC Report Day 4 –– “Rethinking Manufacturing Leadership in a 4.0 World” was the title of a special panel session of MLC delegates in the Automation Forum during the group’s last day visiting the 2019 Hannover Fair.
Moderated by Manufacturing Leadership Council Vice President & Executive Director, David R. Brousell, the panel explored the need for digital acumen and cultural change among tomorrow’s manufacturing leaders.
“4.0 represents a paradigm shift, breaking down command and control structures to become much more collaborative. So organizational structures for the future will move from traditional pyramids to something much more circular,” said Dan Dwight, President & Chief Executive Officer of Cooley Group and a Member of the Manufacturing Leadership Council’s Board of Governors.
“4.0 leaders also need to be change agents and create a culture and a workforce that is learning continuously. And that’s the key word – continuously,” said Pietro D’Arpa, Corporate Manufacturing Director and Supply Chain Director of European Logistics and Strategic Planning at Procter & Gamble, and a Member of the Manufacturing Leadership Council’s Board of Governors
“And it needs to be change by example,” added Holly Baumgart, Vice President IT at Sargento Foods Inc. “If leaders start using data more consistently to make decisions, then people around them will soon see how it works and how it can change the culture.”
“It’s really about walking the walk,” stressed Andrew Bird, Director of Manufacturing IT at Merck. “Leaders need to instill a mindset all the way down the organization and hold people accountable if they don’t respond to the new digital ways of working.”
Pietro D’Arpa described one way that P&G is addressing the issue. “What’s important to have a culture of digital fluency, but many middle managers don’t have that today. So we have adopted a program of reverse mentoring where younger generation employees work with long-term employees to share new ideas about the possibilities of 4.0 tools to help drive a new 4.0 knowledge culture.”
“If you want to change culture, you have to change behaviors,” concluded John Fleming, former Executive Vice President, Global Manufacturing and Labor Affairs at Ford Motor Company and Chairman of the Manufacturing Leadership Council’s Board of Governors. “And if you want to change behaviors, you have to change structures in an organization.”
A more detailed report of the Hannover Panel session will feature in the June issue of the Manufacturing Leadership Journal.
The MLC Hannover delegation then visited the Hannover Fair’s new 5G Arena, including exhibits by:

• 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation (5G ACIA) – an introduction to the recently-formed consortium bringing together 5G network providers and industrial companies to explore and develop new 5G possibilities in industrial applications.
• Siemens – examples of high-speed, high-bandwidth, 5G machine-to-machine connectivity and plant floor IoT.
• Nokia – a mini 5G-connected production line housed in a transportable freight container.

Delegates also had an opportunity to tour the stands of:

• Dassault Systèmes – a factory mapping buggy capturing spatial and technical data for plant floor simulation; industrial IoT and manufacturing analytics; and a digital white board collaborative meeting system.
• Microsoft – live 4.0 insights from one of the World Economic Forum’s Manufacturing Lighthouse companies, Sandvik in Sweden; Microsoft’s BRAIN deep learning system for machine tuition developed by recently-acquired Bonzai; and a food processing quality, sustainability, and tracking system, including a blockchain-based supply chain for rapid traceability.
• PTC – the Vuforia augmented reality asset management system, and a variety of industrial applications based on its ThingWorx IoT platform.

While delegates spent the rest of the afternoon exploring other stands across the Fair’s 28 exhibition halls, Manufacturing Leadership Council representatives also met with Germany’s national consortium for Industry 4.0 digital transformation in manufacturing, known as Plattform Industrie 4.0, to be briefed on its latest release of 4.0 interoperability interface specifications for industrial IoT.
The Delegation’s last day at the Fair concluded with a trip into the German countryside to a renowned local hillside restaurant for a dinner hosted by Oracle.
On the MLC Delegation’s final day in Germany, the group travels to nearby Wolfsburg for a special plant tour of Volkswagen’s showcase production facility.
Executive Director David R. Brousell contributed to this article. Photography by Alyssa Dixon.

Hannover Fair MLC Report Day 3 – One of the most significant challenges facing industrial companies as they proceed on their digital journeys is to determine how best to manage increasingly large volumes of data arising from pervasive connectivity.
Tackling the data problem in all of its aspects – collection, processing, analysis – will determine in large part whether manufacturers successfully transition to Manufacturing 4.0 and whatever comes next, a series of speakers at a special forum at  Hannover Fair told attendees today.
Members of the Manufacturing Leadership Council’s delegation to the Hannover Fair attended the forum, which was called the Industrial Pioneers Summit, and heard speakers from Germany’s SmartFactory, Hewlett-Packard, Siemens AG, Microsoft and others on the topic of “What’s Next After Industrie 4.0?” In addition, MLC delegates visited with Intel, Bosch, Festo, Harting, Oracle, and SAP and toured their exhibits.
At the Industrial Pioneers Summit, Dr. Detlef Zuhlke, a member of the MLC’s Board of Governors and Executive Chairman of the SmartFactory (see photo above), told  Summit attendees that two of the most important developments for the future of the industry are moving production closer to customers and establishing clear standards for data interoperability. Moreover, he said, data has to become more useful.
“Data itself makes no sense,” Zuhlke said. “We need information.”

Matthias Roese, Chief Technologist, Global Manufacturing, Automotive and Industrial IoT, at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, said that a recent study of artificial intelligence, released at the Internet of Things World conference, showed that the most significant obstacle to the adoption of AI is a lack of data quality. Roese said that multiple and often incompatible data sources, difficulty in understanding the meaning of data, data silos in many companies, and even inaccurate data contribute to the problem.

And Klaus Helmrich, member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO of Siemens Digital Industries, said the better manufacturers can get at data analysis directly on the shop floor, the greater productivity and performance they can generate, leading to what he called “a rebirth of the shop floor.”
A number of speakers commented on the impact of AI on manufacturing and its workforce. Caglayan Arkan, Global Lead, Manufacturing and Resources Industry at Micorosft, said AI “will impact everything around us.” HP’s Roese said that 63% of the respondents to the AI survey believe that AI will not be a jobs killer. And Siemens’ Helmrich said that a combination of manufacturing experts and AI experts will lead to higher productivity in manufacturing companies.
“We will be able to create and sell better products with the same level of employees,” he said.
On the exhibit tour yesterday, MLC delegates learned about:

• Intel’s new chip for AI in edge computing applications, called Intel DL Boost for AI, as well as Intel’s machine vision technology and software-defined PLCs.
• Festo’s experimental bionic FinWave, a robot that can be used underwater for detection, and an operational dashboard that uses AI in the cloud to monitor factory assets.
• SAP’s focus on the digital supply chain
• Oracle’s predictive maintenance, lead to cash, digital thread, and blockchain technologies
• IBM’s parts traceability using open source blockchain technologies
• And Harting’s new heavy duty connector product and an RFID-based pallet handling system that includes visual recognition and condition monitoring systems.

Tomorrow, MLC will host a panel discussion – Rethinking Manufacturing Leadership in a 4.0 World – on the floor of the Fair. Panelists include Sargento Foods’ Holly Baumgart, Merck’s Andrew Bird, P&G’s Pietro D’Arpa, Cooley Group’s Dan Dwight, and MLC Board Chairman John Fleming.
Delegates will also visit the exhibits of Dassault Systemes, Microsoft, and PTC and tour the 5G Arena, where they will see the latest developments in the networking technology.
Photos by Alyssa Dixon. Executive Editor Paul Tate contributed to this report.

 

 

Hannover Fair MLC Report, Day 2 –– Interoperability, IoT, collaborative robotics, AI in the factory, and digitally-driven enterprise strategies dominated the MLC Delegation’s stand visits during the first full exhibition day at this year’s Hannover Fair in Germany.

First stop was a personal welcome from Dr. Andreas Gruchow, Member of the Managing Board of Deutsche Messe, followed by introductory comments from NAM CEO Jay Timmons, MLC Board Chairman John Fleming, and MLC Co-Founder David R. Brousell.

German Industry 4.0 pioneer and MLC Board member, Dr. Detlef Zühlke, Executive Director of the SmartFactory KL Technology Initiative, explained to MLC members how multiple automation companies had created an interoperable production line where products from different suppliers fit together and work interactively “like Lego bricks”. The system also harnesses some of the latest technologies, including augmented reality, AI technology, and 5G networking.
MLC members then had the opportunity to discuss the results of numerous IoT test beds on the multi-stand Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) arena, under the guidance of IIC Executive Director, Dr. Richard Soley.

One of the highlights of the day was a personal tour of the massive Siemens pavilion in Hall 9 hosted by Barbara Humpton, CEO of Siemens USA. MLC members were given a deeper dive into key areas such as digital twins, AI, edge computing, energy management, time-sensitive networking, fluid systems IoT, pharma production, advanced cloud computing, and compelling visions of futuristic autonomous factories in its Future of Industry area.
Germany’s Rexroth Bosch then led the Delegation through multiple production, connected hydraulics, and logistics software products, many initially emerging from ideas first developed and live-tested in some of parent company Robert Bosch’s plants around the world. Among its latest collaborative projects is one of the world’s first 3D printed electric motorcycles, even the tyres.
The formal tours of the day concluded with a visit to ABB, highlighting a live collaborative robotics production line showcasing close proximity working between human workers and multiple robotic arms.
MLC Delegation members then spent a couple of hours pursuing their own key areas of interest before heading into the city for a specially hosted dinner by IBM.
Tomorrow, the MLC Delegation visits SAP, IBM, Harting, Festo, Oracle, and Intel exhibits.
Executive Director David R. Brousell contributed to this article. Photography by Alyssa Dixon.
 

Hannover Fair MLC Report, March 31, 2019 — The Hannover Fair, the world’s largest industrial exhibition, opened last night in Germany as political and industrial leaders, including a delegation of Manufacturing Leadership Council members, gathered in the Hannover Congress Centrum to kick off five days of technology demonstrations and conference sessions devoted to making industrial systems more intelligent, including using artificial intelligence.
This year’s Hannover Fair, organized under the theme of Integrated Industry-Industrial Intelligence, has 6,500 exhibits from 75 countries and is expected to attract more than 200,000 visitors. A delegation of more than 20 MLC members, including representatives from Merck, Protolabs, Praxair, Air Liquide, Raymond Corp., MxD (formerly the DMDII), Dotson Iron Castings, and Sargento Foods, attended the opening ceremonies (see photo above). In addition, Jay Timmons, the president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, the parent of the MLC, and Linda Dempsey, vice president of international economic affairs at the NAM, joined the MLC delegation.
German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and Stefan Lofven, the Prime Minister of Sweden, the Fair’s partner country for 2019, spoke at the opening ceremonies. Lofven called for an ethical approach to the use of AI and for greater efforts on sustainability. He also pushed back against nationalistic trends.
“The globalization of the economy can be of benefit to all of our citizens – when it is not based on the lowest wages,” Lofven said.
Merkel said Germany remains a champion of open markets and she called for both lower tariffs and review of the rules of global competition. She also said that countries need to develop rules for competition in the digital world or what she called the “platform economy.”
The German Chancellor also emphasized the Fair’s special focus this year on 5G networks and raised the question of what security requirements should attend the higher speed network.
A highlight of the evening was the announcement of the annual Hermes Award, an innovation prize presented by an independent panel of judges. The 2019 award went to Gernsheim, Germany-based Nanowired, for its new KlettWelding Tape product, which uses two specially-treated components coated with Velcro-like layers of metal wires, that can be pressed together at room temperature to interlock and form a stable and electrically and thermally conductive connection, potentially replacing traditional soldering and bonding techniques.
Tomorrow, the MLC delegation will tour the SmartFactory exhibit, hosted by MLC Board of Governors member Dr. Detlef Zuhlke; the Industrial Internet Consortium; and Siemens, Bosch, and ABB booths at the Fair.
Executive Editor Paul Tate contributed to this article.

Several months ago, a member of the Manufacturing Leadership Council from the automotive sector approached the MLC team with a proposition: What if they could host an IoT-themed workshop at their headquarters to discuss manufacturing digitization – and enlist the MLC to invite non-competitors to attend? The result was a two-day workshop at the company’s  headquarters, attended by several other discrete manufacturers as well as one major process manufacturing company. Here were the key discussion takeaways from the meeting:
No matter the company or the end product, there is commonality  among challenges for M4.0 adoption. At the end of the workshop, the discrete manufacturers in attendance  voiced that they were surprised they had so much in common with the process manufacturing company.  The discrete manufacturers felt there could be even more to learn from process manufacturers.
Everyone is talking about a Chief Digital Officer – whether they’ve hired one or not. In adding a CDO to their executive team, the desire is for that person to be an enabler for M4.0, not a cop to police what should and shouldn’t be done. Two of the companies at the meeting have CDOs, while the other companies in attendance do not at this time (but some are exploring). One challenge/question that came up: How do you write a job description for a CDO?
Most companies have taken a project-based approach to starting their M4.0 journey and are now pushing to move past projects to an overall holistic shift for their company. However, the speed for moving to that holistic approach is strongly dependent on leadership. It was also mentioned that while much of the fear around automation and potential headcount loss has been focused on the factory floor, it’s really off-the-floor functions that could and will be impacted just as significantly (finance, HR, etc.).
It’s all about the data, not the tools to get it. While companies may or may not wish to have universal systems for all their facilities/operations, the end goal is tracking and analyzing the best possible data and making it transparent and accessible across the organization. However, the tools that companies use to get that data do not necessarily have to be the same, since different solutions work better for different businesses.
Communicating value to leadership is critical – and an enormous struggle. The companies that are doing best have leadership with a pull mentality for M4.0 adoption. Those that need to be pushed are seeing much slower moves toward change. Many struggle to have executive leadership see beyond just short-term gains and to instead look at the benefits of digitization for the long term, especially when there is no clear path for getting there.
As one attendee said: “This is the industry’s Kodak moment.” At some point, you have to decide to stop making film. The ones that keep true to their current path without moving toward digital change are bound to lose in the long run.

Industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing are now making it possible to apply agile development concepts to product development, opening up new opportunities, including revenue streams, for manufacturers. By Vicki Holt

Agile development, invented by the software industry to put organized and collaborative development processes and parameters around rapid coding, has been refined over more than 30 years. It is best known for its collaborative, iterative nature and software sprints leading to quicker rounds of QA testing, more potential code variations, and faster time to market.

At first glance, agile may not seem like a concept that is applicable to physical product development. After all, designing and manufacturing a three-dimensional product is very different from software coding, right? Maybe not.

When we look closer, the various stages of software development are actually quite similar to product development. Each requires an initial vision or strategy, a working design, robust testing, and iterative refinements before an end product is reached.

When we consider the impact of Industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing on physical product development, the steps seem to be even more aligned.

Think about it this way: Industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing enable an entirely new structure where physical product development is digitally organized, iterative, and highly collaborative. Industry 4.0 is designed to reveal greater efficiencies and speed within physical manufacturing, but is also intrinsically tied to a highly responsive, customer-driven approach to product development.

It allows for faster time to market, while leaving the door open for continuous improvement. In addition, digital manufacturing and supply-chain initiatives have greatly compressed production time for companies working with design and manufacturing partners implementing Industry 4.0 strategies. In a word, Industry 4.0 is a new structure that is highly agile. When we view it from this perspective, we can clearly outline steps that apply to both agile software development as well as agile physical product development. They are not so different after all.

Concept & and Scope: Projects are envisioned and prioritized; goals and timelines are set. Delivery: Team creates a high-level diagram or flow of the team structure, design, delivery, and distribution model.

1. Iteration/Construction: A working model is developed based on plan, allowing for iterative internal feedback. Quick scrum-style iterations of product design or coding may be used to work quickly through changes, refine, and improve.
2. Testing: Digital QA or usability testing is performed, design for manufacturability is performed, design iterations are completed until specs are satisfied.
3. Release & Production: Final iteration is released into production; end user feedback commences. Feedback can be used to make ongoing, continuous iterations for future releases. Tools such as SaaS platforms and digital manufacturing enable fast turn-around time of future iterations, allowing the supplier to stay ahead of the competition.

Adopting an agile approach to physical product development relies on a concerted transition to digital processes along the entire supply chain.

Identifying new Revenue Streams 

Adopting an agile approach to physical product development relies on a concerted transition to digital processes along your entire supply chain from design to delivery. This is not an overnight change, by any means, but it allows organizations to start taking advantage of the Industry 4.0 landscape.

Reducing the limitations of traditional design and manufacturing processes can certainly give an organization a competitive advantage with its new or existing offerings but, beyond this, it can create entirely new revenue streams based on Industry 4.0 tech such as big data, automation, IoT, and connectivity.

We already know that an Industry 4.0 organization can iterate based on end-user feedback—using agile methods—but how does this translate into creating new revenue streams?

Use this as an example: an HVAC manufacturer builds sensors into its system hardware allowing it to understand customer HVAC usage, temperature settings, and machine maintenance requirements. By gathering data from the machine (automation, connectivity and IoT), the manufacturer can determine if the machine is running at peak performance based on customer usage. The manufacturer can also proactively alert the customer when the machine needs to be serviced, potentially saving the customer thousands of dollars in lost productivity or repairs. Because of Industry 4.0 technology, the manufacturer can offer the proactive maintenance alert service as an add-on offering, creating an entirely new revenue stream not possible before Industry 4.0.

The best way to move forward with agile is to connect with other like-minded organizations, particularly ones in different stages of transition.

Using aggregated continuous feedback from all the HVAC systems sold, the manufacturer can also iterate future designs of the system, to customize or optimize the product based on usage. Without implementing the tenants of Industry 4.0, this level of agility and efficiency cannot be achieved. But organizations must have a vision and plan in place in order to follow this path.

The Need to Embrace Change 

Adopting an agile approach to physical product development also requires teams to accept and embrace change. This is especially true if an organization is moving from traditional manufacturing processes to digital manufacturing. In many cases, retraining staff to adopt digital tools and new process flows may be required. Or, supplementing staff with new roles, such as agile strategists, data scientists, analytics, or 3D designers may be necessary. Things to consider along this journey include:

• Creating a culture of change and collaboration. Embracing a team mindset and broadening teams to be inclusive of design, testing, manufacturing, and marketing. To be truly agile, put aside titles and work collectively across departments and roles.
• Adopting 3D design tools. Moving away from older 2D design software into 3D tools allows designers to take drawings straight through to manufacturing to leverage rapid prototyping and processes like additive manufacturing.
• Partnering with the right suppliers. Finding partners with an end-to-end digital supply chain allows organizations to maintain speed through the design-to-production process.
• Allowing for feedback. Gathering input from internal teams, we well as end users, to feed back into the design and test process is critical. Teams need to learn how to quickly iterate based on feedback/data to remain agile and competitive and improve the customer experience

The path to Industry 4.0 will be different for every organization. But stepping stones to reach this new model exist. If we think of Industry 4.0 as the new landscape we must exist within in order to compete, then agile is the new way of thinking and acting that will help us achieve the promise of Industry 4.0.

Ultimately, an agile mindset requires the fundamental belief that the journey is a critical part of the process. Testing and iterations are not actions that slow down the process. They add value when they’re based on ideal customer goals. The implication for product developers is to start quickly, but plan to iterate and refine many times during the process based on incoming data and feedback. In the past that wasn’t practical for physical products, but now it is with digital manufacturing.

For companies just starting out on this journey, the best way to move forward is to connect with other like-minded organizations—ones in all different stages of transition. Learn from the success and missteps of others before you try to go it alone. Iterate and refine as you go, knowing that each step will both challenge and reward you. Before you know it, a new agile mindset will exist helping your organization reach new heights.   M

Manufacturers consistently tell us that, as they advance on their Manufacturing 4.0 journeys, they face a major challenge finding and developing leaders who are equipped to excel in a digital future. The challenge is multi-faceted. On one hand, they say, the current generation of manufacturing leaders is beginning to retire. But, in seeking to refresh their leadership ranks, manufacturers still struggle to attract high-quality, high-potential candidates, many of whom still hold outdated ideas about working in the manufacturing industry.
At the same time, the experience and capabilities that will be required of the next-generation of leaders is changing in the M4.0 era. Clearly, next-generation leaders will need a greater understanding of the potential and practical applications of technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality systems. But they will also be required to think creatively about the new business models that will be enabled as such technologies bring greater agility to manufacturing.
And, manufacturers tell us, next-generation leaders will need to be able take a much more collaborative approach to managing teams and driving positive results.
Fortunately, we do see examples of manufacturers who are taking creative approaches to mold cadres of next-generation leaders with just such capabilities. IBM Corp., for example, two years ago kicked off what it calls a Competency and Talent Acceleration Program for Advanced Manufacturing. The program first identified young engineers in manufacturing sites across four geographies with the potential to become leaders for the M4.0 era. IBM designed training and mentoring programs that put these candidates on a steep learning curve and, ultimately, created a group of next-generation leaders that has been deployed in the company’s systems supply chain.
For this successful project and others, IBM was recognized earlier this year as the Manufacturing Leadership Awards’ Manufacturer of the Year (Large Enterprise).
This example and others like it, in fact, also inspired us at the Manufacturing Leadership Council to make improvements to the Manufacturing Leadership Awards, adding a category specifically for outstanding manufacturing leaders under 30. In creating this new category, we want to encourage and recognize not just young individuals who embody the characteristics required of M4.0-era leaders but also the organizations that are nurturing the development of these next-generation leaders.
The nomination period for the 2019 Manufacturing Leadership Awards has just opened. Manufacturing Leadership Awards Judges evaluating nominees for the Next-Generation Leadership Award will be looking for young leaders who have “pioneered and executed disruptive strategies, inspired and managed high-performing teams, and raised awareness of the positive impacts of manufacturing on society,” according to the category description.
We encourage all those who know of such outstanding young leaders to submit a nomination before the December 21 deadline.
The 2019 Manufacturing Leadership Awards will, of course, continue to recognize outstanding manufacturing projects and individual achievements across a wide range of categories, including Operational Excellence, Engineering and Production Technology Leadership, Supply Chain Leadership, and Industrial Internet of Things Leadership. And, in 2019, the ML Awards will explicitly recognize manufacturers that are leading the way in using artificial intelligence technologies and techniques to transform operations.
The ML Awards program will also continue to feature additional categories for individual achievements, including the Visionary Leadership Award for established outstanding manufacturing leaders as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Also new for 2019, manufacturers submitting ML Awards nominations will be able to create, and submit their nominations online. We believe this new capability will make it easier for organizations and individuals to share, refine, and submit their final nominations.
More information about the ML Awards categories for 2019, the judging criteria, the submission process, and more is available at http://mlawards.manufacturingleadershipcouncil.com/
Receiving a Manufacturing Leadership Award is a great way to demonstrate to customers, suppliers, partners, and employees that yours is a world-class organization and a Manufacturing 4.0 leader. We encourage all manufacturers to participate in the 2019 ML Awards by submitting nominations.