SMC CORPOR ATION OF AMERICA
DIGITAL REPORT 2020
Delivering competitivity through IT IN ASSOCIATION WITH
02
SMC Corp of America: delivering competitivity through IT WRITTEN BY
MARCUS LAWRENCE PRODUCED BY
MIKE SADR
w w w.smc u s a . com
03
S M C C O R P O R AT I O N O F A M E R I C A
Michael Loggins, Global VP of IT at SMC of America, discusses the strategic and technological shifts driving the pneumatics leaders’ performance
S
MC, founded in Japan as Sintered Metal Corporation in 1959, is one of the world’s foremost pneumatic technology
developers and manufacturers with operations in 81 countries. In 1972, the SMC Corporation of America subsidiary was founded on the basis of providing local delivery and strategy for the 04
American market, with that expertise yielding a considerable degree of autonomy as the business grew over the following decades. In recent years and owing to shifts in customers’ technological capabilities and expectations, that localised strategy has changed. “Every subsidiary was focused almost solely on the customer base within their country,” says Michael Loggins, Global Vice President of IT at SMC USA. “Over the last several years, more and more companies have become unbound by geography - they work and get things done wherever they need to. We’ve created programmes to deal with the largest of those companies that have become global in nature to understand how we can be a better seller to them, to coordinate
w w w.smc u s a . com
S M C C O R P O R AT I O N O F A M E R I C A
“ We want to make sure we continue to understand our local market, but our customers are expecting us to be and act like a global company” — Michael Loggins, Global Vice President, IT, SMC Corporation of America
our efforts from a manufacturing standpoint and so on.” These moves towards supporting global customers were only the beginning of a considerable shift in the way SMC operates. “Those major, globalised companies represent a small fraction of our customer base. We want to make sure we continue
06
to understand our local market, but our customers are expecting us to be and act like a global company so we’ve been trying to figure out the best way to do that. With changes made over the last year, we’re ready to pivot into fully becoming a globally operating company.”
Recirculating chillers and heat exchangers are installed to provide thermal stability for applications in industrial and applied sciences from laser cutting, welding, marking and plastic injection molding. Lab science and analytical equipment applications include: mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, MRIs, CT scanners, radiation therapy machines and other medical equipment.
SMC Corporation Overview CLICK TO WATCH
|
1:58
07 Loggins joined the firm in 2006
an IT perspective will be thorough,
as Manager of IT Operations and
considered, and effective. The crux
progressed through a handful of
of his projects and strategies, he
roles within the organisation before
says, is to use IT as the differen-
becoming Global VP of IT in December
tiator that supports SMC’s strategic
2019. The newly-created position is
competitiveness.
an expansion of his recent role as
“The responsibility we’ve taken
Director of IT from 2012 to 2019 which
in IT is to build the infrastructure on
was overlapped by an additional posi-
technological, operational, staff, policy
tion as European Director of IT from
and procedural levels; whatever it
2017 to 2019. With this experience and
takes from an IT standpoint to ensure
understanding of IT that transcends
we can share data and work with each
borders and SMC’s traditional model,
other geographic boundaries in a
Loggins’ leadership is well placed
productive manner,” he explains.
to ensure the necessary shifts from
“We want to make sure that we’re not w w w.smc u s a . com
Engineering Led. Customer Focused, Women Owned Lucidia IT provides solutions to help their customers adopt and support advanced technologies within today’s cloud first world. SHOW ME MORE
S M C C O R P O R AT I O N O F A M E R I C A
10
The CQ2 compact cylinder is the world’s bestselling pneumatic cylinder and is supported globally. The CQ2 is available in 15 bore sizes from 12mm to 200mm. It comes standard with male or female piston rod threads. 42 standard options make it one of the most versatile cylinder series on the market. For mounting flexibility, it is possible to mount auto switches on any of the 4 surfaces.
a global company as a facade, but that
technologies such as IoT, automation,
we actually operate as one in front of
and the data streams that tie opera-
our customers and other subsidiaries
tions together as other major triggers
whilst enabling SMC to maintain its
for the transformation. “Our custom-
status as the world leader in pneu-
ers are changing,” Loggins notes.
matic manufacturing components.”
“You’re not just solving a mechanical
Loggins highlights the infusion
problem any more, you’re also solving
of tech capabilities with sales and
a data problem, a connectivity problem,
marketing, the use of authentically
a whole range of technological vari-
produced YouTube videos showcas-
ables.” Throughout the transformation,
ing the firm’s offering, and the need to
SMC has ensured that its product
react to the growing scope of smart
delivery meets the full suite of these
“ The cool thing, especially from an agile cultural standpoint, is that we’re not leading RPA’s implementation, the other areas of the business are guiding it” — Michael Loggins, Global Vice President, IT, SMC Corporation of America
needs, maximising value to customers by providing a single source of solutions that operate as moving parts of SMC’s product ecosystem, cutting the need for multiple vendors exerting influence on process success. Enacting change began with assessing and understanding value at a cultural level, guided by the need from a company standpoint for IT to add value both internally and externally. “One of the hardest questions from a cultural standpoint has been: how do you determine value without inherent,
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Michael Loggins Title: Global Vice President of Information Technology Industry: Industrial Automation Location: Indiana Michael Loggins is the Global Vice President of IT at SMC Corporation of America. Having joined in 2006 as a Manager of IT before rising to the Director of IT position in 2012. In 2017, this position was coupled with an additional role as European Director of IT, with both concluding in 2019 so he could assume his new and current position. w w w.smc u s a . com
11
M O S E R I T. C O M
CONCENTRATED ON TECNOLOGY
FOCUSED ON RESULTS LEARN MORE
quantifiable indicators of this given to us for specific projects? How do you deliver against that value? We’re not picking tasks apart or doing large, epic, seemingly endless projects. We’re trying to break that down and ensure value at the point of delivery.” Loggins says that implementing
1972
Year founded
1,160 Number of employees
KPIs to measure deliverable value is a key project and a considerable chal-
new metrics, he says, can be a point
lenge, particularly as the traditionally
of friction, but they are essential to
structured and mechanically-minded
effectively communicating the value
organisation has operated for many
that SMC delivers. “Uptime, delivery
years on the basis of metrics relative
and lead-times have always been
to those qualities. The introduction of
captured but have not previously been
How does the SIF-400, the training system for Industry 4.0, work? CLICK TO WATCH
|
4:18
13 viewed through the lens of what they
could only be scaled by adding more
mean to the culture or to the value
people.” The introduction of robotic
we provide.”
process automation (RPA) began in
From a technological standpoint,
Europe under Loggins’ leadership,
Loggins notes automation as one of
and is now being implemented for
the key and recent elements of the
the US operations as well. “The cool
transformation. “SMC’s bread and
thing, especially from an agile cultural
butter is making components that
standpoint, is that we’re not leading
allow other manufacturers to auto-
it, the other areas of the business
mate their processes. Despite that,
are. They’re assessing the processes
a lot of our back-end, knowledge-
they want to be automated while we
based processes are still very manual,
provide the guidance and solutions
time consuming and require large
for them to conduct their own system
systems to complete the work at
development and do what they need
scale. As we grew, those processes
to do.” w w w.smc u s a . com
S M C C O R P O R AT I O N O F A M E R I C A
14
“ We’re not picking tasks apart or doing large, epic, seemingly endless projects. We’re trying to break that down and ensure value at the point of delivery” — Michael Loggins, Global Vice President, IT, SMC Corporation of America
15
w w w.smc u s a . com
THE WORLD IS CHANGING Is your business positioned for
the new unknown?
Businesses across nearly every industry are entering uncharted territory filled with a variety of digital transformation challenges that demand a flexible, integrated, and business-focused strategy and execution roadmap. At RoundTower, we’re a Hybrid Cloud Integrator. And that means we can quickly and accurately assess your most critical present needs along with your future business goals to expertly tailor and manage a comprehensive business-first solution for success in the real world.
888-679-0752 | www.roundtower.com Š 2020 RoundTower Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved. RoundTower Technologies is a registered trademark of RoundTower Technologies, Inc. | HQ : 5905 E. Galbraith Rd, 3rd Floor, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236
“ With changes made over the last year, we’re ready to pivot into fully becoming a globally operating company” — Michael Loggins, Global Vice President, IT, SMC Corporation of America LU CI DI A I T AN D DELL
The streamlining of processes through automation offers enormous benefits both to SMC and its customers, with faster delivery and the labour saved for its workforce being crucial. The core of the transformation, Loggins says, is SMC’s people. “Aptitude is important but attitude is critical,” he says and, as drivers of the transformation on the ground, SMC’s staff have been rewarded with an increase in knowledge-based tasks in tandem with the reduction of repetitive ones, and positive shifts in work-life
“Lucidia IT and Dell have been our infrastructure partners for around 10 years, and over the last three years they’ve been integral to designing and building our next generation end user compute platforms in the US and now, of course, globally. We’re in the process of building data centres in Europe and we’re in the architecture and design phase for Asia, and both Lucidia and Dell have done a great job of partnering with our teams to make sure they deliver exactly what we need.”
w w w.smc u s a . com
17
S M C C O R P O R AT I O N O F A M E R I C A
18
M O SER CO N SU LT I N G
“Moser originally came in to help SMC build security, governance and compliance frameworks around three years ago. Since then, we have been leveraging Moser Consulting to help with governance, risk and compliance maturity for our projects across
the globe. We’re trying now to scale our US-implemented framework and programmes with additional maturity across the globe, and Moser is essential to this. Moser has a great deal of talent, and its culture is very similar to our own which helps with adaptability.�
19
balances. This focus on employees
behaviours that Loggins and his
ensures high retention, and there
team have been seeking to imbue
is considerable mobility between
across operations.
different business units that enable a breed of cohesion that is only possible through mutual understandings between departments. Not only that, but these qualities ensure the workforce is adaptable, emblematising the Agile methodologies and w w w.smc u s a . com
SMC CORPORATION OF AMERICA 10100 SMC BOULEVARD NOBLESVILLE IN 46060 USA www.smcusa.com
P0WERED BY