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Creating value, building resilience, and transforming their people. These are the breakthroughs manufacturers have achieved on their digital transformation journeys.
Here are insights from three business leaders:
Breakthroughs in value
No matter their size, whether they are a small-to-medium enterprise or a multinational corporation, businesses are driving value creation through digital transformation.
Onn Wah Tech, a local precision engineering manufacturer, is adopting bite-sized I4.0 solutions to make data-driven decisions and advance its production capabilities. The company boosted its factory’s productivity by 10 to 15 per cent by implementing its Manufacturing Execution System to monitor and analyse data flow, creating cost savings and increasing revenue, explains Mr Mok.
ABB, a global pioneer in industrial robotics and digital control systems, champions digital transformation for its own operations and for customers worldwide. ABB’s Digital Solutions Centre in Singapore uses artificial intelligence, data analytics, and mixed reality to drive plant operations across Southeast Asia, bringing savings in raw materials, energy and uptime, and yielding top- and bottom-line growth.
“I4.0 technology provides us with a tremendous opportunity to unlock value for our customers by increasing safety, productivity, efficiency, and sustainability,” affirms ABB’s Mr de Villiers.
Syngenta, a global international agriculture technology company, is embarking on digital transformation to meet its customers’ growing needs. Syngenta expects greater operational responsiveness and agility, optimised inventory and operations costs, and enhanced safety and quality standards, all of which will improve customer satisfaction. “If we don’t do this, we risk losing market share and falling behind our competitors,” states Mr Dutoit.
Embracing new technology, developing a winning attitude, and encouraging our members to take ownership of their performance and retrain and grow has enabled Onn Wah Tech to achieve consistent, sustainable growth for the last five years.
Mr Mok Hon Yong
Chief Strategy Officer
Onn Wah Tech
Breakthroughs in resilience
When faced with a crisis, digital transformation is allowing teams to adapt quickly, giving companies a tremendous boost in agility and resilience.
Syngenta is implementing remote support with new tools such as mixed reality smart glasses that help their local teams connect with regional and global experts. “COVID-19 is pushing us to be faster; as we cannot travel, we must define new ways of working to support our sites to commission new units and the technology associated with it,” says Mr Dutoit.
Onn Wah Tech is leveraging data analytics to identify urgent production and market needs and improve adaptability. “Digital transformation provides real-time alerts. This helps us to react and deliver faster and more adequate responses to changing demands,” shares Mr Mok.
Such digital resilience helps these companies stay responsive to market needs, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. “One of the most exciting projects we have been involved in recently is the development of a robotics system to accelerate the
testing of COVID-19 more safely and efficiently, and at lower cost,” Mr de Villiers reveals.
The use of data and exponential development of digital technology is forcing companies to acquire new skills, be more agile and adopt a corporate culture that integrates the ability to manage change into its DNA.
Mr Gregory Dutoit
Head for Asia Pacific
(APAC) Manufacturing Operations, Syngenta
Breakthroughs in people management
Many transformation projects fail — not because of a lack of technological hardware, but a lack of the right mindsets, skills, and processes.
Leaders recognise the challenges of getting their people to embrace change. “Industry 4.0 solutions often require a new way of approaching a task or a process. Changing mindsets to embrace new technology and embedding that in operations is often the most challenging task,” shares ABB’s Mr de Villiers.
Rising to the challenge, companies are successfully transforming their teams from the inside out, making breakthroughs in people management a key part of their transformation stories.
Onn Wah Tech successfully shapes attitudes and skillsets in the company’s management and staff through active engagement and training. “We sell a strong storyline on why we are investing in digital solutions,” shares Mr Mok. “We set realistic and clear deliverables and readjust our goals when our members are retrained and ready to embrace more new tech solutions.”
Syngenta creates its breakthroughs by placing people at the centre of its transformation processes. Its people-first approach involves dedicated transformation agents and resources assigned to support each team’s digital transformation journey and help each employee internalise digitalisation as a way of life, Mr Dutoit elaborates.
Technology on its own does not accomplish anything, but when used by passionate and educated persons we can add value and solve real problems. So invest in your people, and train them pro-actively.
Mr Johan de Villiers
Managing Director (Singapore) and Head of Industrial Automation (Southeast Asia)
ABB
Stay tuned to the SwissCham Digital Transformation Award
Successful digital transformation results in new areas of growth, resilience and people development, and businesses are leaning in. “Singapore is the perfect place for this as a regional centre for many of our partners, and the vibrant innovation and education ecosystem here further drives the appetite and readiness for digital adoption,” shares ABB’s Mr de Villiers.
To celebrate the innovative and risk-taking culture of digital transformation, SwissCham Singapore is organising the inaugural Digital Transformation Award in collaboration with Deloitte. This award highlights best-in-class digital transformation initiatives, showcases the region’s brands, and helps companies exchange best practices with a network of players in Southeast Asia. EDB is supporting this initiative by sponsoring the Advanced Manufacturing category.
If your company is creating waves in digital transformation, sign up for SwissCham’s inaugural Digital Transformation Award here.
