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32 SMT007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2022 brings change on an almost daily basis. If you look around your shop floor and think that shaving off a fraction of a percent of opera- tional time at any station through finite simu- lation is more important than simply manag- ing to keep operations flowing as changes and challenges occur, then the rest of this article may not be for you. Talking with external solution providers tends to be quite laborious. Most providers focus primarily on sales of their latest technol- ogies, which represent slight iterations of what they had before, or they share lists of mostly irrelevant functions (described in aging pre- sentations) with only a few new graphics. Both approaches have essentially the same prob- lem: ey were designed for a narrow par- adigm of manufacturing which disappeared years ago. What is le is the need for exten- sive customization and adaptation. e larg- est, most established MES solutions seek to hide that significant customization of existing functions will be needed, almost ubiquitously, to make their paradigm fit yours. At the oppo- site end of the solutions spectrum, the most recent simple app-based platforms seek to defer or move the need for code outside their sales cycle. In each case, these providers are compromised in what they can offer: either an aging data-model or no data-model at all, both of which trigger the need for significant unex- pected costs. By contrast, some external solution provid- ers that strongly engage with their custom- ers understand change. As they visit manu- facturing sites, they see that each has different needs and a desire to introduce change to cre- ate stainable solutions. By listening and under- standing evolving customer needs over time, these providers understand the market condi- tions and challenges and they take a different approach to creating and providing solutions. With the whole manufacturing world currently experiencing a wealth of challenges—a perfect storm that includes supply-chain unreliability, increased human resource turnover and skills shortages, energy shortages, inflation, and market-demand fluctuation—many compa- nies are feeling helpless. ey feel trapped in a seemingly never-ending vortex of one crisis aer another. However, companies that have embraced the need to transform and adapt find there are opportunities to discover. It's the Way You Look at Opportunities First, we need to stop thinking about chal- lenges as being unexpected. ese are just excuses. "Undesired" is probably a better description. I would be surprised if any of today's challenges have not happened many times before. But when there has been a per- ceived low risk of a potential challenge, it gradually gets ignored—even when the con- sequences are potentially significant. Manu- facturing has become too trusting of its envi- ronment, depending on things that cannot be controlled. Rather than going back to a world where everything needs to be manu- ally checked and personally managed, there needs to be a new method to pick up on things that must never be forgotten, that may poten- tially put the business into a make-or-break situation. Digital transformation should not be treated as just another buzzword. Businesses must make quick and accurate decisions to react effectively to change. e sheer complex- ity of issues routinely occurring with prod- Smart factory related projects tend to be driven from a technical perspective, by both internal teams and external solution suppliers, neither of which is ideal.