by Stan Devries, Senior Director Solutions
Architecture, Invensys|Schneider Electric
Operations innovation and transformation: there has been much marketing on the innovations in supply
chain and customer relationship management during the last 7+ years. During this time, manufacturing and
industrial operations has begun a less publicized transformation on their
own. This transformation goes beyond
lean and total quality management principles.
In the 1980’s, we saw the impact of Japanese quality strategies; in the
1990’s, the consumer globalization fundamentally changed where facilities are
built, how frequently new products are introduced, and in the 21st
century, industrial operations focus on how they create value for their
customers, often focused on reliability.
These strategies might seem to be dreams without understanding the
innovations that make these sustainable and the new risks can be practically
managed.
These innovations are focused on unlocking the value of
groups of physical and human assets:
- 1. Physical Assets: the move to unifying the industrial enterprise over multiple sites (in groups or as a whole), with a more holistic view in terms of operating strategy and performance management.
- 2. Human Assets: the shift to operational teams that spread across the multiple sites (in groups or as a whole), central, and Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) to make a rapid and dynamic decision support system in a dynamic operational world.
The following table published by ARC Advisory Group describes
a spectrum of coordination or collaboration across assets, both physical and
human:
