Mapping your (Technology) Future
So, what is a technology roadmap? Simply put, it is proactively creating a vision for adopting and integrating technology into your business. It means laying the foundation to understanding your current capabilities and determining what processes, technology and people you will need to achieve your long-term business strategy. By developing a roadmap, you can:
- Ensure all equipment and software are aligned and collaborative.
- Clearly define the necessary capabilities and maximize equipment use.
- Identify the talent and/or training required to seamlessly integrate technology.
The first step in developing your technology roadmap–assuming you have already established a long-term business strategy–is to understand what is possible. What equipment, software and automation are available and how do manufacturers utilize them? We encourage you to attend equipment trade shows, such as FABTECH, and talk to your industry peers. Consider sharing a challenge that you have encountered and ask how they would have manufactured the product--you may discover a better way for next time!
Additionally, be open to and collaborate with your vendor
partners. Invite them to your facility to educate them on your latest
improvements, share what you are trying to accomplish and see how they can
help. Finally, talk to your customers to learn about what they are seeing and
experiencing across the industry.
Once you understand the available technologies and how they
can impact your business, you can categorize and prioritize your investment.
Common technology categories include:
- Improve your manufacturing speed and efficiency
- Enhance your value-add capabilities (i.e., provide
customers with a more complete product)
- Process monitoring
- Continual quality control.
Next, with all the information you have gathered and
understanding everything that you want to leverage, you can determine what will
impact your business the most and/or address your most pressing challenges.
Armed with that information, create a phased and planned implementation
timeline. Keep in mind that the sum of your plan (and investment) is greater
than each individual piece of technology on its own. However, it is still
important to track your level of return throughout the implementation process.
In the next article, we will continue on the journey of building a technology roadmap, including more details about vendor selection, technology implementation, measures of success and key things to consider.
See also: Wipfli LLC
Technologies: Management
Laurie Harbour
