Charting Your Course on the Technology Road Map (Part 2)
Strategies for Manufacturing Success
This is article is part of a series of monthly articles produced by Harbour Results for PMA’s MetalForming Business Edge e-newsletter. Click here to view the full collection of articles.
In February’s MetalForming Business Edge e-newsletter we introduced developing a technology road map and shared insights on how to get started. Last month we defined what a technology road map was and discussed how to develop the map by understanding what technology options are available and how they can impact your business and then dug into how to prioritize your investments to determine a phased approach to implementation – because you can’t get everything at once.
This month we are continuing to outline best practices for establishing a technology road map, including vendor selection, technology implementation, measures of success and key things to consider.
Picking Your Partner
Once you understand the type of technology you want to invest in, it is time to pick your technology vendor. This is an important step in the process and should not be taken lightly. Shops can experience significant benefits – reduced training time and the number of repair components needed, increased flexibility – by standardizing their equipment throughout their facility. So, you want to identify a partner that understands your technology road map and can help you achieve your milestones. Beyond technology expertise, quality and cost, following are a few other factors to consider when selecting your technology partner:
Customization and Flexibility: Determine the vendor's ability to customize their technology to fit your specific manufacturing needs. Flexibility in adapting to your requirements is crucial for seamless integration into your processes.
Scalability: Consider the scalability of the technology offered by the vendor. Ensure it can accommodate your current production volume as well as future growth without significant disruptions or additional investments.
Support and Maintenance: Evaluate the vendor's support, training and maintenance services. This includes factors such as response time, availability of technical support, and maintenance agreements to keep the technology running efficiently.
Compatibility and Integration: Assess how well the vendor's technology integrates with your existing systems and processes. Compatibility with other software or hardware components is essential for seamless operations.
Security and Data Privacy: Ensure that the vendor's technology meets your security and data privacy requirements. This is particularly important when dealing with sensitive information or proprietary processes.
Don’t be afraid to ask for case studies or references so you can see for yourself if the vendor has successfully implemented similar equipment. Carefully consider all these factors and select a partner that best fits your requirements and can contribute to you current and future success.
Breaking Down Implementation
The final step in the technology road map is implementation. This can be a complex process and there are many facets to consider. First, you should form a cross-functional implementation team that consists of people from production, engineering, IT, quality and leadership. This team will collaborate throughout all phases of the implementation process, including testing and production.
Second, it is important to understand facility requirements for the new technology – from physical space, space preparation details, and IT and data requirements. Additionally, you must understand how the new technology integrates with your existing systems and processes to determine if any customization or special interfaces will be required.
Next, to help mitigate risk and reduce work stoppage, it’s critical to develop a contingency plan. Identify different implementation scenarios and potential issues, and map out what steps will be taken if you run into challenges – an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Finally, as part of implementation, you should prepare for continuous improvement. The new technology will likely not be optimized at the beginning of operations, requiring training and use to drive improvement and efficiency. Along with this is training and education. Shops need to provide comprehensive training to employees who will be using the new technology to ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge to operate the technology.
Measures of Success
Once you have completed the technology roadmap milestones, take some time to evaluate what went right and what went wrong. Having the cross-functional team conduct a post-implementation analysis can uncover opportunities that should be considered for future investment, as well as steps to continuously optimize the current technology.
As discussed in the previous article, part of the technology roadmap is establishing goals and objectives – improve efficiency, increase flexibility, reduce downtime, return on investment, etc. Once the new equipment is in place and running, these metrics should be revisited. Remember, it may take time to see improvement. And, if you are not seeing the improvement you expected, diagnose why – is there a process that is broken? Do you need more training? How can you optimize the new technology?
Other factors for success in developing and implementing your technology road map include communication. Be sure to develop a plan to communicate what you are doing and how it benefits your key audiences – employees and customers. Integrating technology can be a differentiator not only for new business but attracting new talent to your organization.
Also, continuously review your roadmap and don’t be afraid to pivot or adjust as your business dynamics change or new technology is introduced. Your roadmap should align with your business’ long-term strategy and support your business goals.
And, finally, this process can be a daunting task. The required investment of time and money, coupled with the fear of the unknown, may have many questioning whether it is “worth it.” The reality is new technology – automation, equipment and software – has moved from a nice-to-have to a must-have to remain competitive in the marketplace. It is no longer “if I am going to embrace technology” it is “when am I going to embrace technology.”