When an AI-driven tech solution proves its worth, it only makes sense to scale it across your business as soon as possible. Any lost minute is a loss of value. But sadly, it’s here where things commonly fail – often partly due to a disconnect between the executive office and the plant floor. After years of successful rollouts with some of the biggest names across industries of all kinds, Augury has now formulated a Fast Track Methodology to overcome the specific issues manufacturers face during rollout. So what do you need to know to get all stakeholders on the same page – and fast?
The Only Way Forward…
It sounds straightforward enough… “Dream big, start small, scale quickly,” as one customer described the ideal route to full enterprise roll-out. However, the industrial manufacturing industry is notorious for stalling at “small”. Success depends on ditching “pilot purgatory” and ramping up speed and scale.
We certainly need to apply technological innovation to solve manufacturing’s complex business challenges. But tech is only part of the equation. Companies also need the right people and processes in place to unlock the tech’s value in the most efficient way possible. This is why, after over a decade of working with global customers, we have developed a proven approach that can overcome the hurdles facing most tech initiatives.
And yes, the methodology involves milestones, best practices, tools, tutorials, et cetera. However, at its core, the methodology comes down to seven key insights that make rapid scaling possible.
1) Don’t Skimp On Change Management
Innovation is always a challenge. But industrial manufacturing is a special case since large organizations typically give their individual sites a lot of autonomy for decision-making. So, you can’t just show up at a site and say: change. Everyone needs to be involved, convinced, engaged, and brought along for the full ride.
In other words, driving transformation is a team sport. Yes, you as the executive sponsors need to stay involved – clearing roadblocks, making the business case, creating internal alignment. But there should also be support from the right mix of leaders and champions at each site who can bring the local culture into the loop and make it their own.
2) Give Clarity and Context
Context is everything. Leaders need to deeply understand what they want to achieve with a particular tech – while also having a deep grasp on how the change might affect those who will actually use the solution. In this way, leaders are better equipped to explain why this change is essential. By being a strong advocate, you breed other strong advocates.
Everyone just wants to understand the problem that needs to be solved and how the offered solution can help. They want to be able to give feedback on how this solution can best be applied in their plant. They need to be reassured that leadership is not just chasing yet another shiny object.
3) Win Hearts And Minds By Building Trust
At the end of the day, change management only succeeds when you have the right leaders in the right place – capturing hearts and minds of people on all levels and helping erase any fear of failure and distrust of change. The technology’s end users need to understand how it will improve their professional lives – and what specific goals it will help them to achieve. They need to see the tech in action. They need to know it’s not going to end up taking their jobs away. That, in fact, it will open them up to other meaningful work that AI/IoT cannot do – such as leaning into the opportunity to upskill and create a more satisfying career.
4) Invest Fully In New Technology
Leaders need to give their teams the confidence that comes with providing a full budget. At Augury, we’ve seen that the organizations who fund initial rollouts for the first two years generate greater adoption and ultimately increased speed-to-value. It’s also not only about investing in the tech, but also in the training so people are optimally equipped to embrace the tech.
5) Set Your Expectations On ‘Fast’
With implementation, leaders often rate a rollout of 4-6 new sites a year as successful. But while every situation is different, we’ve seen many forward-looking leaders driving full global roll-outs within 12-18 months – while managing the change along the way. In other words, it pays to be more ambitious. The key is to choose a tech that focuses on a global core business need – that it’s a solution that solves a specific problem and one that has already cracked the scalability issue.
6) Don’t Wait For A Site To First Reach A Certain ‘Tech Maturity’
Certainly, you should prioritize your sites into different rollout waves – and there are definitely best practices worth sharing around this. And yes, some sites are less interested in adopting new technologies than others. However, these are often the sites with the most to gain. People tend to focus too much on their lighthouse factories – their poster children for success. The question often becomes “How can we bring the success of our most advanced sites to our less mature sites?” While this may be a common question for many organizations, the better question is “What sites have the most to gain from this technology?”
7) Find The Right Strategic Partner
As one successful change leader describes his perfect vendor: “They need to be in love with solving my problems.” Certainly, the right engaged partner can help you chase, track, and embrace success throughout the full process. And they should consider it their responsibility to provide all the tools you need to achieve success.
The goal is clear: improved and sustainable productivity worldwide. The vendor helps you get there. This is the beauty of the right SaaS purchase. It’s not a one-off like buying a car or some CapEx investment. It’s an ongoing partnership that scales with you – building a relationship and trust.
In other words, vendors should be there every step of the way – from install to driving adoption to scaling and beyond. The vendor should make sure their tech will work in your culture – wherever and whatever that might be.
The Code Is Cracked: Stability In Transformation
At Augury, we’ve already covered a lot of miles with other manufacturing pioneers. We’re proud and ready to share what we’ve learned. Everything we’ve experienced over the past decade working with our innovative customers has led us to this moment, creating the Fast Track Methodology that is simple, proven, and repeatable – providing a sense of stability in transformation.
In the coming months, we will share more on this methodology and debunk the myths that slow the scaling of innovation. This new approach is a result of many conversations and experiences. Like our vast library of machine data that forms the basis of the success of our algorithms, this method has been crowdsourced. We thank everyone who played their part.
And if we were to summarize our Fast Track message: Put your focus back on thinking big, starting small, and scaling fast – we’ve got your back.
If you’re interested in scaling your Production Health program with Augury, reach out to your Account Executive or your Customer Success Manager.
