Conditions change quickly for industrial managers. Well laid plans are one thing, dealing with a live shopfloor another.
Though we like to calculate and predict outcomes, you always need to be ready for unexpected pivots, changes, and stops.
How quickly you respond to these can determine success or failure. This is your agility.
In this post, we’ll explore why agility matters on the shopfloor, and for your software, covering:
The modern shop floor
Let’s say you have an unforeseen quality issue that needs corrective action. It was discovered after a client called, complaining about a batch of components you shipped last week.
Micro-fractures are causing quality control failure. You need to identify the problem and solve it quickly, because the downtime this is causing will cost the factory thousands.
Your agility here is critical. But so too is the agility of your software set up.
Because the technology you have in place will be key to resolving this issue. You need reliable data, alongside a real-time view of your shop floor, to know what to do next.
This situation could happen at any time. All you can do is mitigate it, never completely remove the possibility.
So what kind of tech will you be relying on?
The problem with legacy software
Monolithic MES are built to last. But they’re not built to move.
Just when you need manoeuvrability the most, you find yourself steering a cargo vessel. This is largely due to how they’re designed.
Most industrial software is written as a single, massive block of code. Each part is tangled up with the other, and it requires specialised engineering to update or alter the functionality of one part.
The stability and dependability it was built to give you suddenly becomes its main weakness.
Add to this how unreliable cost forecasts and timescales can be. Reports show that over 50% of ERP projects go over budget, and 23% are considered failures.
Using this traditional software to diagnose and solve specific problems can be very difficult. And it lacks the adaptability to fit around the modern shopfloor.
Just as you want to increase your own agility, you need software that can adapt with more nimble processes.
In other words, you need a partner that switches up and changes when you do.
What agility means for industrial software
Agility means adaptability to sudden market changes. Evidently this is becoming more important in industry as competition becomes more fierce and demand less predictable.
Gartner refers to agile (or ‘composable’) software as being key to maintaining competitive advantage. By now, organizations with this approach to technology outpace competition by 80% in new feature implementation.
So what does this look like for you?
Agility needs to be felt across 4 key areas for users of industrial software.
Let’s start with how long a tool takes to set up.
Agility in implementation
A typical process for implementing MES or ERP projects is around 12 months.
Getting this onboarded and part of the fabric of life at your factory will take longer. So the first goal of an ‘agile’ tool is to cut this down.
Agile software allows you to start small and expand. Let’s say you begin with a tool that helps you conduct Audits, for example. Skip ahead a few weeks and you could implement another tool for other routines, like Gemba Walks.
This is one of the chief benefits of a modular software system, in that it allows you to get value within a matter of weeks, not months.
And by deploying piece-by-piece, before long you’ll have a suite of tools that cover most of your operations.
Agility in scale
Expanding use to new lines, teams, and even factories is made much easier with an agile, modular system.
Traditional industrial tech demands you work around it. Agile software adapts to your processes and structures. This is the essence of the ‘composable’ software we referenced above.
The phase of digital transformation your factory is in should dictate how quickly and where you deploy software.
You should address priority areas first. It’s no good trying to rush ahead and go for complete digital coverage in one go. And that’s often what large ERP tools demand of you.
Agile software grows and expands with you. Exactly what you need.
Agility in usage
Any software tool on the shopfloor must be used readily, easily, and by everyone. But this is often where traditional tools slip up.
Because a big mistake many large ERP projects make is a failure to build an intuitive user interface.
Workers might be compelled to use this software by management, but they won’t reach for it instinctively. This makes real-time logging of data problematic.
And it means that knowledge of the real capabilities of the tool can be concentrated in a few people; people that others become overly dependent on.
Agility in usage means that your software tool is ready to blend in with your people. The advantage this could give you is huge.
Studies from McKinsey have found that user-friendly digital tools can increase productivity by 20% and reduce errors by 30%. So UI is clearly more than window dressing!
Agility in adaptation
Lastly, how your software responds to the idiosyncrasies of your processes is important for its agility, too.
You need a tool that can fit around you and your set up without costly custom development. Monolithic ERP software often forces you to work around it, and that’s what you want to avoid.
When introducing anything new to the shopfloor, you want to reduce friction as much as possible. The way to do this is to bring in software that’s configurable.
The benefits of agile software
We’ve just described what agility means for industrial software. If you find a solution that delivers this agility, you’ll soon reap a few core benefits.
Lower initial investment
Firstly, by starting small and scaling logically, you’ll save a lot of money. Your initial investment is reduced significantly as you target priority areas with specific tools.
As we noted in a previous blog, the initial investment behind an in-house or custom software development can stretch beyond 250,000 EUR.
Going piece by piece reduces the risk of overspend substantially.
Plus, each new tool you introduce has the power to prove itself and its ROI on its own merits. This can help you further prioritize key areas affecting your KPIs.
Improved problem solving
The availability of real-time data will help you understand your performance much better. Teams can now detect and solve deviations and problems instantly, with improved KPIs, such as Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR).
In fact, factories using real time data from agile systems have been shown to reduce their MTTR for production incidents by more than 25%.
Reducing bottlenecks and delays in addressing problems is one of the first steps towards lean manufacturing, and continuous improvement.
Creating a new culture
This leads to an important benefit that grows from agile systems.
As your people use the new software, and become invested in it, they’re helping create a new culture of continuous improvement.
This is a natural result of having a user-friendly, dependable, and mobile system for managing data.
The Kaizen Institute lists several core benefits of a continuous improvement culture, not least increased efficiency, cost reduction, and business growth.
However, an additional advantage is that employees typically feel more engaged and more likely to commit to your business.
You want to keep your best people. Encouraging a better culture is one way to do it.
Future-proofing
A new agile system you implement is regularly updated and revised.
The company behind it responds to user demand, developing new tools and improving existing ones, and their product roadmap is usually detailed and comprehensive.
In other words, they change the tool as times and needs change.
Traditional ERP systems are extremely difficult to manoeuvre and adapt to changes. An agile system grows and evolves.
The mPS is built around you
The mlean Production System (mPS) is the most complete, modular continuous improvement software on the market.
Our suite of tools runs from pre to post-production. They’re available across devices and are updated and improved regularly.
Since we launched in 2015, we’ve helped over 500 factories move beyond static, monolithic software solutions and towards agility on all levels.
We consider it a critical edge for any manufacturer to have. And our clients agree.
We’ve helped businesses from multiple sectors get agile, from automotive giants like OPMobility and Edscha Gestamp, through to market leading brands like Mahou-San Miguel.
If they have one thing in common, it’s that they benefited from a tailored package of modules designed to address their most pressing problems.
And that’s what we’ll make for you.
Talk to us today
Book a discovery call now so we can learn a little about your factory and your priorities.
From there, we’ll draw together a set of modules to suit your needs.
It’s the first step towards agile continuous improvement. Take it today!
