NHP News Room Spring 2019 News Room FINAL | Page 3

EDITORIAL
Connecting to a digitally transformed future
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any of you would have experienced this situation – the warm
glow from the sun, sunglasses on, seat belt latched, laptop out whilst
precariously holding a can of soft drink. No, I’m not driving my car
and breaking the road rules! I’m sitting in window seat 11F at 35,000ft,
heading back from the sunny Gold Coast in Queensland en route to
my home town of Melbourne.
For the past few days, I’ve been at the ultimate education and training
experience. Held over 3 days and offering more than 70 sessions,
including thought provoking keynote presentations, expert-led
technical sessions plus interactive hands-on labs and demonstrations.
This year’s Rockwell Automation TechEd was jam-packed with value,
with more than 400 attendees experiencing the power of Rockwell
Automation’s ‘Connected Enterprise’, which combines connected
smart digital devices opening new windows of visibility into processes,
data and analytics, enabling better and faster decision making and
seamless connectivity spurring new collaboration. The ‘Connected
Enterprise’ converges plant-level and enterprise networks, and securely
connects people, processes, and technologies - expanding human
possibilities.
As the proud and exclusive distributor for Rockwell Automation
throughout the South Pacific region, NHP was also on display at
TechEd, showcasing our complementary ‘Connected Energy’ solutions
which brings together smart power and digitally enabled distribution
technologies making power distribution smart, secure and efficient.
Combined, the ‘Connected Enterprise’ powered by ‘Connected Energy’
is what we call ‘Connected Intelligence’ – which brings to life true
digital transformation for any industry and application.
According to the World Economic Forum, only 15% of organizations
ran pilot programs of less than 1 year, 56% of organizations indicated
pilots of 1-2 years, while 28% of organizations ran pilots for more
than 2 years. Most of these organizations struggled to scale up due to
the difficulty of aligning in terms of value and return on investment
(ROI), the uncertainty of digital’s impact on performance and the cost
required to implement and scale.
On the other hand, 26% of organizations today have absolutely
no plans in place to invest in Industry 4.0 and/or develop a digital
transformation pathway. They are clearly missing out on the myriad
opportunities that Industry 4.0 brings - it is more than likely that these
organizations will join the likes of Kodak and Blockbuster in ceasing to
exist in a short number of years, or at best, being left behind by more
forward-thinking competitors.
So, unlike my current situation, where my flight is coming in to land
and I need to turn off “….all electronic and digital devices…” (hence
I cannot type anything further on my laptop!), you can keep your
organization’s electronic and digital devices ‘on’ through digital
transformation and benefit from the real and measurable outcomes of
achieving productivity efficiencies, expanding competitive advantages
and innovating your end-to-end value chain.
If this sounds good to you, I encourage you start the conversation
around your digital transformation plans today and explore with us
how a ‘Connected’ program will unlock the potential within your
organization.
Kind regards,
The 4th Industrial Manufacturing Revolution (commonly referred to
as Industry 4.0 in our local region) is squarely upon us with the rise of
cyberphysical, connected and self-aware systems. It’s happening right
now at scale, bringing productivity efficiencies, expanding competitive
advantages and innovating the end-to-end value chain as part of the
digital transformation plans of organizations everywhere.
On one hand (and depending on which research paper you read), 6%
of organizations say they have a budgeted digital transformation plan
within 3 years, while 23% have a budgeted digital transformation plan
within 1 year. On paper, these statistics tend to indicate that there is a
level of thought going into digital transformation programs which is
great for our industry and our local manufacturing capabilities.
Geoff Thorp
Chief Marketing Officer
16% of organizations that have implemented their digital
transformation plan succeeded in expanding at scale beyond the
dreaded pilot stage and have since experienced unprecedented
increases in productivity and efficiency, with minimal displacement of
employees.
Further to this, 29% say they are in pilot stages of implementation
– which is where things get interesting. Breaking this down further,
organizations that enter the pilot stage end up in the so-called
‘pilot purgatory’ – reiterating, repeating, experimenting, changing,
re-investing – with no tangible output or change in performance.
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