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Of Talent and Transformation

March 3, 2016
    Will people be necessary for business success in the Digital Age?

With all the talk about the 4th Industrial Revolution and the Age of Smart Manufacturing, driven by the Internet of Things, Big Data, advanced analytics and the Cloud, it’s easy to gloss over questions about the role people will play in manufacturing’s digital future.

After all, if machines talk to machines, learn new things and adapt on the fly, why wouldn’t it be time to dust off the old idea of what used to be called the “lights-out factory.” You know the cliché: In the future, you’ll only need a person and a dog to run a factory, the dog to make sure the person doesn’t touch anything—and the person to feed the dog!

Similar thinking today has experts rating which jobs will be made obsolete by fast-improving and new technologies—and most put many factory production jobs on the list.

This is of special interest to IndustryWeek, as through the decades we’ve been on record emphasizing how valuable people, from the executive suite to the plant floor, are to the success of a manufacturing business. However, critical to gaining value from plant floor personnel is the leadership practice of valuing them.

But I digress.

While figuring out how the latest technologies can help reduce labor costs is one way to ensure your manufacturing business’ future viability, more vital is how to find, attract and retain the talent you’ll need to transform the business—and then how to organize it. Falling behind the competition’s cost curve is one thing, but it pales in comparison to failing to leverage the technology to innovate your leadership practices, business models, work processes and products. And that takes talent.

People will play the defining role in this 4th Industrial Revolution."

Significantly, executives at companies leading the digital transformation note the importance of executive leadership. “Leadership and culture are just as important as any technology,” declares Jim Wetzel, technical director at General Mills.

Meanwhile, Lance Whitacre, VP and CIO of Andersen Corp., stresses the need for a top-to-bottom talent transformation, saying: “People have to reinvent themselves. We have to reinvent ourselves.”

Others see tension in the need for increased collaboration between the operations technology (OT) staff and the information technology (IT) staff. Recent research indicates that the two departments “don’t currently get along.”

Other research finds that “Not having the right talent on board is a problem for 65% of businesses.”

By now it’s clear that the question at the beginning of this article is rhetorical.

Regardless of the promise of a new technology, simply bolting it onto an old, creaky business model or production system isn’t going to catapult a company to success—never has, never will. People will play the defining role in this 4th Industrial Revolution.

To succeed will require re-skilling and retraining the production workforce, realigning and demanding greater collaboration among once disparate departments, and reimagining and changing nearly every aspect of how work gets done.

Indeed, change this fundamental affects one group of jobs in particular: those in the C-Suite.

Are you ready?

About the Author

Patricia Panchak | Patricia Panchak, Former Editor-in-Chief

Focus: Competitiveness & Public Policy

Call: 216-931-9252

Follow on Twitter: @PPanchakIW

In her commentary and reporting for IndustryWeek, Editor-in-Chief Patricia Panchak covers world-class manufacturing industry strategies, best practices and public policy issues that affect manufacturers’ competitiveness. She delivers news and analysis—and reports the trends--in tax, trade and labor policy; federal, state and local government agencies and programs; and judicial, executive and legislative actions. As well, she shares case studies about how manufacturing executives can capitalize on the latest best practices to cut costs, boost productivity and increase profits.

As editor, she directs the strategic development of all IW editorial products, including the magazine, IndustryWeek.com, research and information products, and executive conferences.

An award-winning editor, Panchak received the 2004 Jesse H. Neal Business Journalism Award for Signed Commentary and helped her staff earn the 2004 Neal Award for Subject-Related Series. She also has earned the American Business Media’s Midwest Award for Editorial Courage and Integrity.

Patricia holds bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and English from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in Journalism from Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. She lives in Cleveland Hts., Ohio, with her family.  

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