Introducing the Internet of Things capabilities into manufacturing operations brings significant benefits. However, beyond the technical aspects, selling the project to management initially and sustaining it over time often requires overcoming specific challenges. Addressing these issues can be difficult, but it is crucial for achieving project success.
Much has been written about the necessity for upper management support, but why is this a potential problem when the benefits of IoT seem so obvious? Possible situations include:
- Executives and upper management may lack awareness of IoT, how it works, and what benefits it can bring, making them hesitant to pursue a project that relies on the technology.
Recommendation: They don’t need to be mired in the details, but education on the concepts, benefits, etc., needs to occur early and, ideally, in an environment and/or on a project that carries little or no risk. So rather than a potential embarrassment, it’s an opportunity for a big win.
- Production targets are often a critical metric, and the project may seem distracting. The need to innovate may not be evident because “the numbers look pretty good.”
Recommendation: Who wants to just be pretty good? Let’s discuss the possibility of being the best in class, with improvement in almost every aspect of the operation, including output, quality, safety, and employee satisfaction.
- Management may be familiar with and therefore support the metrics already in place, which may not accurately reflect the actual state of the operation.
Recommendation: There may be a need to acknowledge that current metrics may be incomplete or incorrect, particularly if some or all data collection is manual. For example, the availability component of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) requires capturing all machine start and stop times and labeling them as planned or unplanned, which can easily be subject to human error (or embellishment).
- Heroics often get us through, and management loves heroes, like the guy who comes to work in the middle of the night when a breakdown occurs and gets it fixed in a couple of hours.
Recommendation: What if this situation was avoidable? An IoT implementation with a well-designed predictive maintenance solution can provide information about machine performance. Maintenance, repair, and replacement can be scheduled so unexpected breakdowns don’t happen. There’s no need for the hero, but everyone is better off for it.
- Once a decision is made to proceed with an IoT project, the focus may be on a quick payoff.
Recommendation: Some parts of the project can’t be delivered quickly, but some will be able to show results in as little as a few months. Identify those opportunities, focus on them, and achieve early success to maintain support. There is often a tendency to “boil the ocean”, which is typically a recipe for disaster. Instead, identify manageable, incremental steps, where value can be derived and demonstrated along the way.
- The “I don’t get it” problem occurs when it is difficult to connect the IoT data with potential improvements, which can doom your project. For example, there may be a belief that indoor environmental conditions adversely affect the product, which drives the installation of sensors to measure those conditions, but trying to correlate the observed data to the end product quality is difficult to do.
Recommendation: Pick areas where the data can be connected directly to operational performance. If you can’t quickly establish causality, you may get a lot of blank stares when you present your progress.
Enabling IoT for a manufacturing operation has become more than a helpful improvement—it is now a requirement for competitiveness. To be successful, company management has to be on board at the outset, which can be accomplished by helping give them the right perspective, enabled by the right approach by the project participants, and the ability to define parameters for success and then demonstrate that success.