RESET TO GROW

MANUFACTURING EXECUTION SYSTEMS SUPPORT REVENUE GROWTH WHILE PROMOTING RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY IN TIMES OF DISRUPTION AND MARKET UNCERTAINTY, WRITES KEITH CHAMBERS, VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE, AVEVA

As the leading Italian producer of extra-virgin olive oil, Farchioni understands the importance of quality and consistency. Every one of the 32 million bottles it produces each year must deliver the same culinary sensation. Just a few drops of this ambrosial gold on a bit of bread, anywhere in the world, can instantly transport diners to the Mediterranean’s sunny climes, to ancient olive groves and abundant tables, surrounded by friends and flowing conversation. Lower-grade versions simply do not have the same effect, and that’s without going into provenance, terroir and the numerous other factors affecting product quality.

But millions of people around the world would not be able to enjoy this magical experience if an entire chain of manufacturing processes didn’t work together flawlessly and in seamless harmony. Once a small business owned by two farmers operating from a single mill in Umbria, Farchioni’s empire now extends to beer, wine and flour, of which 25 percent is exported around the world.

That level of scale would be impossible without automating traditional manufacturing processes through digital transformation, a development referred to as Industry 4.0. Food and beverage manufacturing increasingly relies on modern technology such as smart data capturing and analysis, inventory and operations management, value optimisation, and personalised training. With manufacturing processes calibrated to optimum conditions, production can be maximised while quality remains consistent and wastage is reduced. Alongside, the process yields substantial environmental and sustainability benefits.

For Farchioni, embracing these technologies with AVEVA’s Manufacturing Execution Systems didn’t just help to improve yield and reduce manual labor. The solution offers the confidence that that each individual bottle within a 3,000-quintal batch of olive oil looks, smells, and tastes identical.

Technology helps manufacturers respond to market conditions

As Farchioni shows, implementing digital technology into a plant can bring benefits that improve efficiency and productivity, while raising the quality of finished goods – whether in food or other industries. But is that enough to assure success in the new-normal marketplace, where the impact of Covid-19 remains an ever-present reality?

Perhaps more important in today’s market, digital operations management technologies provide consumer packaged goods manufacturers the ability to calibrate their response to fluctuating market and supply conditions. The industry has complex supply chains that can span continents. The sensitivity of these chains to climate and other environmental issues can cause the cost and availability of ingredients to vary dramatically. These trends have been further amplified by coronavirus-linked work restrictions and altered market demand linked to changing consumer lifestyles, incomes and purchasing patterns.

For instance, in February 2020 for the first time since records were kept, consumers in the US spent more at food service establishments that at retail grocery stores. By the end of the year, spending worth $220 million had shifted from food services to retail sales channels, completely upending supply chains. The situation changed again this year. The two ends of the supply chain intersected at production plants, where workers had to deal with the impact of these demand swings, alongside supply shortages, rapid onboarding of new suppliers, and packaging changes – all in the face of a growing labor shortage.

Optimise the value chain with a digital thread

Digital manufacturing technologies can go a long way to optimising the value chain to create resilience and agility, and to build sustainable, future-proof industrial operations that can respond swiftly to changing market dynamics. At its heart, value chain optimisation is a digital thread that connects the consumer to and from the plant floor, allowing manufacturers in every sector to grow their revenue, improve their profitability with sustainable practices that meet their commitments to their customers, employees and communities.

This digital thread begins at the point of demand and runs through the supply chain to help build a realistic sales and operations plan that factors in customer service priorities and business KPIs. It factors in operational imperatives such as the cost of production and availability of materials, labor and equipment. These often contradicting drivers have to be reconciled into an optimised production schedule that balances these competing goals – in a plan that must be executed at the lowest possible cost. Manufacturing Execution Systems typically manage this work, using digital tools for mobility, collaboration and knowledge sharing to ensure maximum productivity.

But people and technology are only two elements of a transformation plan. The third, process, is where digital transformation has a major additional impact. As plants become increasing agile, so the pace of change accelerates, bringing with it the need for recurring improvements. Advanced analytics and AI can deliver this continual optimisation of shop floor processes and provide operators with key insights into productivity improvements.

Finally, a digital thread offers visibility for all stakeholders – from the customer to the supply chain planner to the plant floor operator – into the plan’s execution. An agile plant needs to be able to respond quickly to the unexpected, so if a major piece of equipment fails, plans can be reoptimised quickly and customer impacts communicated.

Realise the advantages of digital manufacturing systems

Whether it is an olive oil producer or a manufacturer of candy bars, digital Manufacturing Execution Systems that optimise the value chain have several significant benefits: • Improved manufacturing agility and resilience • Ensured sustainability and environmental health and safety • On-time and in full delivery • Increased productivity • Improved quality • Increased performance • Transparency and traceability • Reduced non-compliance

Despite technological advances in processing and ingredients, most plants are still collecting and sorting data manually. Transforming this process across a digital thread facilitates optimised performance while supporting revenue growth and sustainability. With this approach, systems can be standardised across plants to leverage supply chain-wide improvements.

Over the past year, we have witnessed developments that may have taken decades to come about be compressed into the space of a few months. These developments have led the World Economic Forum to describe a “great reset” of the business of manufacturing. With an uncertain business outlook likely to persist for the foreseeable future, only advanced technology solutions can enable manufacturers to stay resilient and responsive within a dynamic business environment. The time to hit the ‘reset’ button is now.

POWERING TRANSFORMATION

JAYESH MAGANLAL, CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, DAMAC PROPERTIES, SHARES HIS VIEWS ON THE EMERGING TRENDS IN PROPTECH AND HOW THE REAL ESTATE GIANT IS STAYING AHEAD OF THE GAME THROUGH INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY ASSETS.

Building a digital business is now a mandate across all sectors. For example, the aftermath of the pandemic has propelled the regional real estate sector to double down on digital initiatives to meet customer expectations and deliver seamless services.

Jayesh Maganlal, Chief Information Officer,

DAMAC Properties, says that technology needs to be an integral building block for real estate businesses to thrive in the new normal.

“The regional real estate market has always remained competitive and attractive to global customers. Over the past two years, we have seen COVID-19 causing significant disruption leading to both – the sector’s decline and growth in a short period. This has put immense pressure on businesses to swiftly change their operational direction to one governed by technology,” he says.

Elaborating on the recent trends in PropTech, the DAMAC chief notes that during the pandemic, the agility of real estate companies was put to the test, leading to a quantum leap of digital transformation and adoption in all areas of the industry. Companies realised that they need to efficiently serve their customers without any disruptions on all platforms and simultaneously be equipped to cater to surge in demands. This has led to a renewed commitment to digital investments.

“Besides setting up various digital touchpoints, we have seen an increase in the usage of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) to enhance customer interactions. These technologies have enabled digital property walkthroughs, site tours as well as snagging before handovers. Even developers and construction firms are using these technologies for site inspections.”

He adds that another growing trend that has emerged is the higher usage of virtual assistants, reinventing how customer interactions are done through various collaboration tools and conversational AI chatbots.

“We have also observed an uptick in data-driven decisions when it comes to development, sales, revenue optimisations, and investments,” he explains. “Additionally, newer companies are deploying technologies like digital twin for facility management, enabling improved preventive maintenance. We’ve also witnessed a rise in new concepts for property and asset management solutions. Finally, another notable trend is the uptake of companies leveraging clean technology to reduce environmental impacts.”

Operating in the region for almost two decades, DAMAC Properties’ digital transformation journey began two years ago with the DAMAC Living app.

“We were one of the first companies in the UAE to create an easy and delightful home ownership process. Exclusively designed for DAMAC property owners and tenants, DAMAC Living offered an easy way to manage all aspects of owning or renting a property through a single convenient app,” he says. “The thought process behind creating this app was to save our customers valuable time and offer a better experience by using a variety of combined services, to give them updates on what’s happening with their properties.”

While this was the initial intent, over time, the company started evolving and enhancing the customer experience on the app. “Today it is not just a community management app anymore. We are working towards a single solution for all customer touchpoints at DAMAC, right from when the customer shows interest in our property to when they start residing in them.”

Maganlal highlights that through the app, the company seeks to continue to engage and interact with customers while they stay in DAMAC communities.

“We aim to be closer to our buyers and residents and offer them an enhanced customer experience for all their needs with a single touchpoint via our digital platform.”

More than engagement, the DAMAC Living app also allows customers to do a variety of tasks – from online payments, booking community amenities to availing a host of online services for request management – effortlessly and quickly.

Maganlal adds, “We have seen tremendous customer response for the app. In today’s age, especially after COVID, everyone is receptive to interacting through digital channels.”

DAMAC employs many advanced technologies for its customer-facing areas and for enhancing its revenue and internal systems, increasing efficiencies, and boosting productivity.

“We are building our capabilities to support our customers from anywhere at any point of time, without any physical limitations of asset or people. We want to embrace the next level of automation, which is hyper-automation, where we will integrate Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools. This will include having a standard RPA while also leveraging AI and machine learning to get them working together in perfect harmony.”

The company is looking to automate complex business processes to build holistic experiences for its customers and employees.

“It is all about rebuilding the foundation across all the technology stacks. In today’s competitive landscape, speed and agility is the name of the game. This is why we want to ensure that we future-proof our systems to keep pace with the evolving market. To do that, we have to continuously examine the processes that we’ve built to re-engineer them and build a robust integration layer. This will help us to implement new technologies and to build on technologies that we have.”

According to Maganlal, at DAMAC, they consider every day as “day one,” describing their efforts toward innovation as relentless and their journey to digital transformation endless.

“This continuous journey of transformation can be difficult when it comes to business, but it’s not impossible. We continue to question the status quo, drive innovation, and discover where the opportunities are, and we’ve seen some positive results come out of it. We look forward to growing as a digital enterprise.”

WE CONTINUE TO QUESTION THE STATUS QUO, DRIVE INNOVATION, AND DISCOVER WHERE THE OPPORTUNITIES ARE, AND WE’VE SEEN SOME POSITIVE RESULTS COME OUT OF IT.