Page 21 - MMI- Nov-Dec-2021

plans for unscheduled outages, ably. Improved upstream and bearing on how the overall
but the lack of real-time data downstream visibility aided in business shapes up in the near
feed introduces lag in decision increased supply chain agility, to medium term. DX invest-
making, which increases the resulting in accurate planning ments need to be reviewed
reaction time and subsequently and forecasting metrics. These periodically for ensured sus-
impacts the resiliency frame- initiatives, in the long run, will tenance. Also, when the DX
works. Apart from histori- provide sustainable benefits drive is devised, specific, mea-
cal trends, there is a need for by enabling top-line and bot- surable, attainable, relevant,
executable insights that sub- tom-line contributions while and timely (SMART) goals
sume unstructured information supporting the DFPCL transfor- need to be created and tracked.
feeds to overlay contextual data mation journey. • Invest in Re-Skilling Initia-
for addressing real-life opera- And this is one of the many tives - To mitigate the effect
tional challenges. examples of how manufactur- of external factors and com-
For instance, Deepak Fer- ing organizations in India are petition, organizations tend
tilisers and Petrochemicals pivoting on data-dependent to invest in technology appli-
Corporation Ltd (DFPCL), an process drives rather than the cations requiring the need for
India-based chemicals and fer- other way around. Though not outsourced services, which Organizations
tilizer manufacturers with a every DX drive will yield sim- would significantly increase that are
turnover of over US$1 billion, ilar kind of returns, organiza- the cost of operations. One uninitiated
has launched a massive digi- tions do agree that there are of the biggest challenges that need to
talization drive at four of its substantial benefits associated most organizations have been change their
manufacturing facilities. One with data-centric modules. facing in the recent past is the digitalization-
of the significant challenges misalignment between tech- related
was the availability of asset Internal and external buy-in nology vision versus people queries from
performance/utilization data, The DX journey for each organi- investment. ‘why’ to
‘when’ and
which was fragmented, dis- zation is unique and needs to be • Create Industry Consortiums start taking
jointed, and present in multiple curated to address its respective - Despite the existing compe- tangible steps
databases. Also, the organiza- internal challenges. Though not tition, organizations should towards an
tion still relied on traditional comprehensive, the following look to form industry forums approach that
excel-based solutions that lim- set of recommendations aid in that could aid in establish- suits their
ited their respective predictive reducing the gap between ide- ing best operational practices future vision,
analytics roadmaps. ation and execution: across the various manufac- bearing in
DFPCL’s transformation jour- turing processes. For instance, mind that an
ney was quite structured. It • Sell the Idea Internally - industry cloud solutions could end-to-end
started with gap analysis, IT/ Often, the core intentions drastically reduce the procure- enterprise-
OT integration roadmaps, fol- of a digitalization drive get ment and sourcing timelines wide DX drive
would yield
lowed by a detailed ecosystem masked by the cost reduc- and would aid in bringing re- much more
review to identify a viable tion or organizational re- newed profits across the value benefits than
partner who can drive and sup- jigs resulting in resistance chain. Similarly, smart manu- the sum of its
port its long-term digitalization within. Organizations need facturing and logistics-specific parts.
plans. The key technologies to invest in efforts to sell the forums could also lead to the
considered and implemented idea within to highlight the development of custom solu-
were real-time analysis, AI- intangible benefits that feed tions that address function and
based machine health monitor- into long-term growth aspi- region-specific challenges.
ing, and integrated S&OP (sales rations rather than equating
and operations planning). The it to automation-enabled op- And organizations that are
remote monitoring technology erational productivity. uninitiated need to change
solutions will aid the company • Allocate Budgets and Periodi- their digitalization-related que-
in keeping its manufacturing cally Review the Investments ries from ‘why’ to ‘when’ and
assets operational even during - Budgets need to be allocated start taking tangible steps to-
workforce availability chal- by considering the strategic vi- wards an approach that suits
lenges. After implementing sion of the organization. Look their future vision, bearing in
Supply Chain Planning, DFP- to invest in processes that can mind that an end-to-end enter-
CL was able to create ‘what- cut down the operational risks prise-wide DX drive would yield
if’ scenarios and increase its and improve product quality much more benefits than the
forecast accuracies consider- which would have a strong sum of its parts.

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