DIGITALIZATION ! What does it mean for the Maintenance & Reliability Community?

[Noyan 0]

Dear All,

I am interested to find about your view on the recent demand by the industry on Digitalization of work! There seems to be an immense sense of urgency (fueled by the pandemic) and move away from the traditional ways of implementation (test/pilot/assess/adjust/implement etc) of digital tools and services.

Many organizations create new analytics departments,  hire Data Scientists, implement mobile apps, further convert print media to digital format, roll out new software in enormous speed these days.

So, in this dynamic situation, how are you approaching to this within the sphere of Maintenance & Reliability Management? 

My initial take on this was, first we need to fix our backyard and ensure that the house is in order (get the basics right! - i.e. if your CMMS equipment hierarchy is incomplete, your workpacks are rough, your team lacks competencies, what is the point of spending all that efforts and money on digitalizing your sub-standard work practices and processes!).

Nevertheless, the more I read and think about it, the dynamics of Digitalization is somewhat different to what we are used such as a traditional CMMS roll out which typically  takes 2-3 years.  

The digital crusaders seem not to take any prisoners and follow the agile processes (similar to .com industry) and adopt "Fail Fast, Learn Fast" approach and strategize, plan and roll out digital initiatives in 90 days-180 days horizons - and claim success!

I am still not quite there and struggle to see how they achieve these in an integrated and sustainable way!

Be interesting to hear from you all!

Noyan Ercan

Quote from an McKinsey expert: "Too often people think of digital transformation in terms of, “Let’s put some really powerful technology over this process and it’ll suddenly be much stronger.” That’s not how it works. Just digitizing an analogue that was conceived decades ago is not transformation—without going back to how you can serve the customer’s need better, you haven’t transformed anything."

Related article/Podcast from McKinsey: 

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3BvZGNhc3RzLm1ja2luc2V5LmNvbS9mcC9pbnNpZGV0aGVzdHJhdGVneXJvb21fZ3BsYXk/episode/aHR0cHM6Ly9wb2RjYXN0cy5tY2tpbnNleS5jb206NDQzL2w_cj1nb29nbGVib3Qmcz1fZ29vZ2xlYm90Jmk9NmM2MzNhMzEzMDMwMzAzMDMxNjMzNDczNzA3NDM1NjIzMzM0NmE2NTczNzMmaGU9Njg3NDc0NzAyNTMzNDEyNTMyNDYyNTMyNDY3Nzc3NzcyZTZkNjM2YjY5NmU3MzY1NzkyZTYzNmY2ZDI1MzI0NjYxNzM3MzY1NzQ3MzI1MzI0NjY0NmY3NDYzNmY2ZDI1MzI0Njc0Njg2NTJkNzM3NDcyNjE3NDY1Njc3OTJkNzI2ZjZmNmQyZDcwNmY2NDYzNjE3Mzc0MjUzMjQ2Njk2ZTczNjk2NDY1MmQ3NDY4NjUyZDczNzQ3MjYxNzQ2NTY3NzkyZDcyNmY2ZjZkMmQ2Mjc1Njk2YzY0Njk2ZTY3MmQ2MTJkNjc3MjY1NjE3NDJkNjQ2OTY3Njk3NDYxNmMyZDYyNzU3MzY5NmU2NTczNzMyZTZkNzAzMw?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwio783ro_3tAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ

Digital strategy in a time of crisis (mckinsey.com)