David Brousell, co-founder, vice president and executive director of the Manufacturing Leadership Council in Washington, D.C., will head to a Rhode Island Manufacturing Association event in February. The discussion at the Providence Marriott Downtown will focus on “The New Way to do Business in Manufacturing.”
PBN: We hear a great deal about the advanced skills needed in today’s manufacturing sector as they relate to technology, but how have things changed in the way these companies do business?
BROUSELL: As they think about the requirements of becoming a digital business, manufacturing companies are having to rethink their workforce skills inventories in relation to the types of functions they will need. For example, manufacturers will need to find talent to fill job functions such as digital twin architect, digital thread engineer, digital product-safety systems engineer and data management analyst. In some cases – particularly the data analyst roles – manufacturers will be competing with nonmanufacturing industries for these individuals.
PBN: You told Forbes recently that manufacturing is seeing – and will see more – mergers and acquisitions. Why?
BROUSELL: The industry’s transition to digital, combined with what I believe will be continued globalization, will drive many companies to try to acquire competencies and products rather than try to build everything on their own. In other words, they will be addressing time-to-market and scale issues in order to create a competitive advantage before the next guy does. M&A [mergers and acquisitions] has always been used for this purpose, of course, but the new demands of the digital era increase the necessity to do so.
PBN: The National Association of Manufacturers blog refers to the “Manufacturing 4.0 era.” What is that?
BROUSELL: The Manufacturing Leadership Council, the NAM division which I represent, defines M4.0 as the next stage of industrial progress, enabling mass customization on a global scale by factories and plants that are extensively networked, software-driven, intelligent, autonomous and information-intensive. The way we look at M4.0 is that there are three dimensions of change – technology, organization and leadership – that must be orchestrated for a successful transition to the M4.0 era.
PBN: What is your view on the importance of cross-training in manufacturing?
BROUSELL: Cross-training and the development of cross-functional teams in manufacturing organizations are essential in the M4.0 digital era. As manufacturers attempt to create full product life cycle processes and empower them with digital threads of information, functional silos now in place in most manufacturing companies will fall, necessitating that people are cross-trained in different functional areas. This is already beginning to happen in some companies.
PBN: What is one change every manufacturing company should make in 2019, if they haven’t already?
BROUSELL: They should start to develop business plans for M4.0 and roadmaps for getting there. This will require top management to develop an M4.0 vision and strategy, rethink from an organizational standpoint how they are going to operate in the digital era and identify the technologies they will need to power their journey. And underneath it all they will have to think deeply about their culture and how it may have to change to support the new way of doing business that is before us.
Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.
