Industry 4.0 Assessment
Assessment Approach
Many companies across industrial sectors worldwide are investing in digital transformation to help realize:
- Increased business productivity
- Reduced time-to-market
- Improved operational efficiencies
- Regulatory compliance
- New optimization opportunities
While they see the value in digital transformation, however, many organizations today have challenges evaluating where they truly are on the digitalization spectrum and/or where they need to begin in order to define their unique digital transformation strategy. What systems need to be put in place? What should priorities be? Will solutions drive tangible value in line with the company's goals? Engineering Industries eXcellence partners with organizations facing uncertainties to provide guidance as they navigate the digital landscape across different systems, business units and technologies. Our Industry 4.0 assessments, which take around 3 to 5 months, aim to deliver a comprehensive analysis of an organization's existing digital ecosystem as well as a unique solution roadmap and implementation plan to help it achieve its full vision for Industry 4.0.
A Strategic Partnership
To help overcome the challenges of digital transformation, we work with customers to define what Industry 4.0 means to them and how they can achieve it. A strategic partnership with us can provide guidance for enterprises trying to navigate the digital landscape across different systems, business units and technologies.
- Company Business Drivers
- Business & Functional Requirements
- System Review (Gaps & Capabilities)
- Process Mapping (Gaps & Capabilities)
- Software Solution Maturity Model
- Implementation Plan & Timeline
A Proven Methodology
What solutions need to be put in place? What should priorities be? Will solutions drive tangible value in line with the company's goals? Our collaborative methodology and process expertise helps enterprises define their Industry 4.0 roadmap via a software solution maturity model that aligns with their unique multi-year vision.
- Digital Foundation
- Lifecycle Data Management
- Cross-Process System Integration
- Production Operations & Support
- Supply Chain Optimization
- Continuous Improvement for Industry 4.0
Assessment Activities
1. Multiple Business Groups
We use proven analysis methodologies to conduct workshops with different business groups in order to better understand your current business processes. The goal is to ensure that any systems implemented support the overall goals and requirements of your business. Our team gathers feedback from each group in order to enhance the requirements gathered, give better visibility to priorities and provide clarity on how different teams and departments work together within your organization.
2. Cross-System Review
To achieve true digitalization, your company must look across systems, business units and processes, both manual and automated. Our approach to cross-systems assessments is to align with the industry standard ANSI/ISA-95. ISA-95 was created to establish basic functional categories and integration levels between enterprise and control systems within manufacturing. ISA-95 provides us with a point of reference that can be easily aligned to software systems and functional ownership.
3. Cross-Process Mapping
After capturing business processes, our team maps their interconnectivity across system levels. In this way, we develop a digital architecture, mapping data flows between enterprise business systems (level 4), manufacturing operations systems (level 3), and automation & control systems (levels 2 & 1). The goal is to better define needs, understand existing capabilities and identify gaps, both functional and technical, in your existing digital ecosystem. Some high-level business processes we look at: Demand Forecasting, Corporate Analytics, Design Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality Planning, Manufacturing Execution, Quality Execution, Supply Chain Management, Automation Integration & Standardization.
4. Unique Solution Roadmap
Taking business drivers, processes, requirements, gaps and systems into account, our experts define a unique Industry 4.0 roadmap via a software solution maturity model that aligns with your company’s 2-to-5-year vision. Based on the workshop assessments and business requirements identified, functional capabilities are recorded and categorized. An evaluation is performed to assign what value we believe the capability will offer. These rankings of timing and value are based on the collected business requirements and industry best practices. These capabilities form the basis for the generation of your Industry 4.0 roadmap and an understanding of when specific capabilities and gaps should be targeted.
5. Executive Presentation
The assessment ends with an executive presentation to all stakeholders in order to present the solution maturity model, discuss findings and insights, answer any remaining questions, provide recommendations and plan next steps. As your strategic partner and leading system integrator for Industry 4.0, we hope to continue to support, advise and collaborate with our customers far beyond the assessment phase. Not only is our team capable of designing your unique digitalization roadmap, but we have the technical skillsets, industry experience and business process knowledge needed to implement it.
Assessment Deliverables
- Comprehensive map of existing IT system capabilities and gaps
- Industry 4.0 software solution maturity model and roadmap
- Functional architecture for future digital enterprise (levels 1, 2, 3 and 4)
- Implementation plan and timeline (both short-term and long-term)
- Recommendations for technology investment prioritization
- Executive presentation of findings and maturity model to stakeholders
- Potential vendor options for new software system purchases
- A strategic partner and system integrator for your ongoing digital journey
Engineering's Advantage
Engineering Industries eXcellence was a pioneer in industrial digital transformation even before the term “Industry 4.0” was coined. Our global team has been focusing on delivering technology solutions that bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds for many years. Our niche knowledge across all the processes and systems of the product lifecycle, manufacturing operations and supply chain have given us the capabilities and expertise needed to help industrial organizations define, design, implement and continuously innovate their seamless Digital Thread for Industry 4.0.
