Driving Adoption and Value in Smart Manufacturing Applications with Organizational Change Management
In today’s digital landscape, the deployment of advanced technologies like smart manufacturing applications has become essential for companies aiming to stay competitive. However, these technologies often face adoption challenges that limit their potential value.
Historically, organizational change management (OCM) has not been a focal area for smart manufacturing applications.
However, research consistently underscores the pivotal role of effective change management, showing that initiatives supported by robust change strategies are seven times more likely to achieve their objectives compared to those lacking such measures.
Organizations are now beginning to recognize the importance of adoption and retention in realizing value. The integration of OCM into smart manufacturing applications consulting initiatives represents a paradigm shift and an acknowledgement that technology alone cannot drive transformation.
The Role of Organizational Change Management: Lessons Learned
OCM has long been recognized as a critical element in deploying enterprise systems. These systems require employees to adapt to new workflows, which are often met with resistance. To help bridge this gap, organizational change management strategies focus on:
This methodology has proven successful with enterprise systems, where organizational change management strategies/practices ensure employees not only adopt the tools but also continue to fully utilize them to drive value for the organization. The same principles apply to smart manufacturing applications initiatives. When companies invest in these technologies, they aim for transformative outcomes, such as improved efficiency, deeper insights and operational excellence.
By implementing tools that enhance worker productivity, situational awareness and overall capability, organizations can gradually build comfort and competence with data-driven tools. However, without a structured approach to change management, these solutions struggle to gain traction or achieve sustained use, risking the potential for wasted resources and unrealized benefits for the organization.
Addressing the Complexity of Smart Manufacturing Applications
One of the core challenges in the adoption of advanced manufacturing applications/technologies is the perceived complexity of these tools, especially when layered over Operational Technology (OT) systems. OT data management can already be intricate, requiring precise control and deep domain knowledge. Adding the analytical sophistication of data science, machine learning and operational optimization can feel overwhelming for many users.
This complexity is compounded when workers are less technologically experienced or unfamiliar with the systems being introduced.
The solution lies in demystifying these technologies through tailored organizational change management strategies
Making Solutions “Sticky”: Engagement Across Levels
One crucial factor in the success of OCM for data science and IoT is ensuring that solutions become embedded, or “sticky,” within the organization. This begins with understanding user personas and their specific motivations for engaging with the system. By creating detailed profiles of different stakeholder groups, you can better understand their needs, challenges and expectations related to the smart manufacturing technology.
For example, what drives a team lead to use a predictive maintenance tool may differ from what motivates a plant manager. This deeper understanding will help you tailor communication, training and support to maximize adoption and satisfaction.
You must identify and analyze the needs, behaviors, pains, and goals of these unique personas to create alignment and drive adoption.
Overcoming Challenges Unique to OT Systems
Unlike traditional enterprise systems like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM), OT systems operate closer to production environments. This proximity introduces unique challenges. For instance, end-users often interact with both digital and mechanical systems, making it essential for tools to seamlessly integrate into their workflows. If new digital systems are seen as disruptive, they can hinder operations rather than enhance them.
OCM’s integration here is twofold:
- Ensure that systems do not obstruct operations
- Drive value realization by promoting effective use
Success requires not only training on the technology but also a deep understanding of the operational context. By aligning tools with existing processes and emphasizing their practical benefits, organizations can achieve both operational continuity and innovation.
Strategic and Tactical Benefits of Organizational Change Management-Driven Solutions
Organizational change management strategies for smart manufacturing applications must strike a balance between long-term strategic goals and immediate tactical benefits. Think of it in a two-fold approach:
The combination of these perspectives ensures that organizations see both immediate improvements and sustained benefits over time.
In the short term, OCM helps deliver measurable returns on investment (ROI) through improved worker engagement, enhanced satisfaction, and an understanding of how the technology will enhance efficiency and streamline workflows, empowering each group to focus on higher-value tasks
Reinforcing Value Through Continuous Engagement
The journey doesn’t end with deployment. Ensuring the sustained use of smart manufacturing applications requires ongoing engagement and reinforcement.
This can include:
- Making training on these tools part of new hire and onboarding sessions
- Providing regular training sessions
- Leadership-led initiatives
- Integration of user feedback into system updates
Unfortunately, we’ve seen cases where lack of leadership buy-in has derailed these efforts. Without consistent reinforcement from plant leadership, a new digital tool can fall into disuse over time. This underscores the importance of top-down support in reinforcing behaviors and ensuring long-term value realization.
One effective tactic is demonstrating immediate wins, such as ROI or operational improvements, which can help build momentum and buy-in. This involves avoiding negative terminology like "head count reduction" and instead emphasizing the value each employee brings to the company as well as highlighting tangible results. We discuss more tactics for effective communication in our Mastering Change eBook.
Over time, as users become more comfortable with the technology, the focus can shift to unlocking more advanced capabilities, such as predictive analytics and machine learning models.
The Future of OCM in Smart Manufacturing Applications
As companies invest in increasingly complex technologies, the role of OCM in driving adoption and retention becomes more critical than ever. Our organizational change management consulting team can help organizations apply OCM principle to smart manufacturing applications projects and overcome challenges, unlock immediate and long-term value, and create a culture of innovation.
Organizations should prioritize:
- Aligning tools with people and processes
- Fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making
- Ensuring that systems enhance rather than hinder operations
In the end, the key to success is not just in deploying the technology but in ensuring that it becomes an integral part of daily operations—delivering both the ROI and the cultural shift necessary for sustained adoption.
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