Excellence through technology
Studies demonstrate that approximately 80 percent of Indian manufacturers have implemented lean manufacturing techniques. These cover areas such as focusing on customer needs, implementing pull systems, reducing set-up time, adopting TPM philosophies, measuring supplier performance, implementing statistical process and quality control, and enabling cross-departmental problem-solving.
The operational impact is undeniable: high productivity, reduced lead time, improved first-pass correct output, and reduced inventory and space requirement. But the Indian manufacturing sector has not leveraged technology enough to enable lean concepts. The perception that the cost of technology adoption is high and the ROI is suboptimal is one of the major hindrances.
This is set to change. The technology market has expanded and the range of available options increased. Cloud technologies enable even the smallest of Indian organisations to adopt sophisticated solutions without high upfront cost and effort. New consumption models based on usage and services, such as time & payroll and procurement-as-a-service, present a wide range of benefits such as increased agility, customised solutions, automatic upgrades, and enhanced business continuity at much lesser costs.
Embrace data
With proliferation of intelligent products and technologies, it is time to become smart about not just capturing data, but also using data to drive critical thinking and decision-making. Studies suggest that companies doing this are able to outperform the industry. In an Economist Intelligence Unit survey, over 59 percent of outperforming companies rated data as being extremely important.
Increased leverage of analytics and data can help manufacturing organisations optimize inventory, enhance productivity, and improve quality. Integrated information management provides better visibility into waste in the manufacturing system.
Data-driven thinking entails not just recognising that data is important, but also having a strategy and right technology infrastructure in place to exploit data. With multiple visualisation solutions available, it is far easier to engage the next generation entering the workforce.
Enable change management
The success of any technology adoption is based on deep employee engagement. In the US, where two of every three people have smartphones, this is relatively easier. The Indian labour situation is more complex, what with 44 central labour laws, 150 state labour laws, and innumerable standing orders often taking a divergent view of ‘wages' and ‘worker'.
The key question therefore is around the role of technology in enabling an adaptive workforce and better engagement. The answer mostly points to mobile solutions. It is time to think of creative ways to deliver technology attuned to the Indian mobile user experience as boundaries between personal and work areas blur.
Looking ahead
Clearly, there is a great opportunity for Indian manufacturers to grow through technology. This needs a sustained, futuristic and pragmatic effort. Technology can help organisations get more information from products and manufacturing systems, while improving time-to-market, quality, and process efficiency. The new digital and connected world holds far-reaching promise, but requires organisational as well as ecosystem-level initiatives, where value chain partners can adopt common solutions and transform businesses.
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About the authors: Prasad Satyavolu is Assistant Vice President for Innovation, and Badrinath Setlur is Senior Director of Consulting in the Manufacturing and Logistics practice of IT and consulting major, Cognizant.
