Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/942744
FEBRUARY 2018 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 25 optimize further. Siemens has a digital enter- prise maturity index or assessment that we are incorporating into the electronics manufactur- ing business. Industry 4.0 is an example of a digital enterprise implementation. Industry 4.0 is focused on virtualizing and connecting design and manufacturing, and automating those processes to have a highly flexible, auto- mated operation. It includes the supply chain; it includes decisions made at the level in which you're still ideating. Virtualization starts at ideation and continues all the way through the product lifecycle. In addition to the business process optimiza- tion, we also have teams that will go on site and make process optimization real for an orga- nization. If the organization is going to solve some of their business challenges using Men- tor technologies, the team would be involved with implementation the Valor manufacturing factory automation systems. In addition, most systems would need to be stitched in to an eco- system or other systems. That may be a ware- house management system, ERP system, PLM system, remote and/or local automated mate- rial handlers and perhaps an internal analytics infrastructure. My team plans, manages, and execute that as well. Shaughnessy: It sounds like you're not doing so much putting out fires as you are helping somebody expand or add a new module or add a new step along the way. Gorajia: The key here is to help organizations, at least those that want the help, along the journey of further automating, optimizing their business process, and optimizing their manu- facturing processes to better realize the best that they can be. Shaughnessy: Tell me, what are some typical examples of something where you or your team get called into a facility? Gorajia: One common example of a business problem starts out with, "We've got a problem with our balance sheet. Too much material in the factory; can you help us with this?" Usu- ally that entails us walking around and finding that there's large amounts of stored or buff- ered material. Areas where they're not moving material fast enough. There are parts in their stock room inventory that have been sitting there depreciating. We would actually build a workflow, a mate- rial workflow, and optimize how it's used. There should be no reason why there's material sitting on a factory floor. How do you automate it so that there's just-in-time queueing, so the right materials are in the right place for the right pro - duction order at the right time, based on cus- tomer demand and agreed timelines? How do you make that a reality? Usually, we see 40-45% improvement on just the material inventory once we get that flow in place. That's a combi - nation of technology, automation, and business processes. One can't always throw technology at a problem. There are processes and people considerations that have to come along with addressing a business challenge like that. Shaughnessy: Do you use the lean process? Gorajia: Yes. Lean methodology is key to the analysis parts of an assessment, and the result- ing process definition. Barry Matties: When the owners of companies walk through and they see all this work in queues, they feel like, "Oh, we're doing great. We're busy." Gorajia: Right, but it could be exactly the oppo- site, actually. Matties: The mentality is such that it's really hard to shed. What resistance are you meeting in that regard? There should be no reason why there's material sitting on a factory floor.