Forget the product, thanks to rapid advances in technology, consumers almost always want ‘the latest’. And it’s the manufacturer who can get it to them the earliest that stays competitive in the market. Add to that the growing trend for individualization, and the need to re-engineer your factory has moved from frequent to almost continuous.
As you’re all too aware, this involves bringing together multiple disciplines each and every time. External building teams and project coordinators. IT experts and maintenance engineers. Production line planners and product designers. All of whom often work in silos that are connected only at the top of the organization. Many use different software and their own custom processes. Some hold vast amounts of outdated data in complex legacy systems. Together, this makes the process of re-engineering both slow and costly.