Digital Transformation Services

When introducing Industry 4.0, manufacturers should review their current operations and outline key business objectives that they can achieve from an upgrade, before investing in digital transformation services. Once a business has set out its long term goals, it can work backwards to understand the steps it must take and technology it must integrate to realise Industry 4.0.

Why invest in digital technology?

Improved quality – decrease reworking and waste
Increase productivity across business processes
Reduced downtime and unplanned outages – reduce costs and improve maintenance cycles
Reduced operational costs
Improved decision making – use the right data to make more informed decisions
Better employee experience – reduce paperwork, manual processes and build trust
Enhanced customer experience – supporting customers from enquiry to delivery and throughout the product’s lifespan

Most importantly, it allows businesses to remain competitive.

Barriers to Industry 4.0

While manufacturers have been aware of Industry 4.0 for over a decade, few have taken the steps to create a digital transformation strategy.

Resistance to change is one of the most common barriers to a digital future, with some businesses and employees happy with the status quo. Increasing digitalisation means people are being empowered by technology, not replaced by it.

Encouraging a culture change from the top of an organisation, helps the business better understand the wider benefits of digital technology. Increasing their understanding also allows management to explain the benefits to the wider stakeholder groups, implement staff training sessions, build trust and act on feedback.

How to start digitalising a factory

Implementing a successful digital transformation strategy requires businesses to embrace new technologies to streamline current processes.

The steps to digitalisation:

Understand your business goals and the biggest quick changes
Get stakeholder and high-level management support to build staff confidence
Create a roadmap that plans out the tailored digital transformation strategy and includes any data gaps
Test the process. Run pilot projects and make the most impactful change first to see the benefits
Introduce new technologies and systems over time to understand the benefit of each new investment

How to remain globally competitive

For businesses to compete on a global scale, they need to change their approach to data analytics away from a compliance exercise and into a value-adding process. Businesses can take time to learn to use the data effectively, grow their capacity and thrive as demand rises. Those that do will edge ahead of their competitors, into an Industry 4.0 dominated world. Those that do not will fall behind the digital technology wave and lose their competitive edge.

Top tips when digitalising processes

Don’t do it all at once

Trying to do too much all at once risks the original long term business goals and plan being overlooked and the individual benefit of each new digitalisation becoming unnoticed or untraceable.

If the investments don’t align with the original goals, businesses face investing in a digital future that does not give a good return on investment or support its stakeholders in the most effective way.

Avoid only focusing on new technologies

Even though it might be the newest, this doesn’t always mean it will be the most impactful or cost effective. Put your existing technology to good use, so you get the best return on investment from it.

Integrate your solutions

Once you have started digitising your system, make sure any new technology can be seamlessly integrated to avoid lost data analytics or less efficient processes.

Consider cyber security

Ensure that valuable data, like passwords, customer details and financial information, is protected by testing the security of your systems and solving any issues that arise.

Why invest in digital transformation services?

Ripley Solutions offers businesses digital transformation consulting services from the start to end of the digitisation journey, including training, cybersecurity and tailored IT and OT solutions.

Get In Touch