When it comes to digitalizing the value chain, speed is of the essence – for example when it comes to the global rollout of digital shift books. Our best-practice example of a successful and rapid rollout strategy shows how standardization can reduce costs, make data transparent and processes better and more secure.
Production sites are individual in terms of processes, work specifications, shift systems, etc. In order to map their peculiarities as far as possible, many companies roll out their digital shift books plant by plant – and in such a way that the shift book is tailored precisely to the needs of the location. Although this ensures a high level of acceptance among the workforce, it costs a huge amount of time and money in terms of IT strategy and makes rollouts slow and sometimes impossible, especially for larger companies. What’s more, the shift books are heterogeneous and have different versions.
Best practice examples show that a switch to a standardization strategy with globally uniform, digital shift books is particularly recommended for globally active groups with more than ten production sites. This not only reduces rollout costs, but also allows you to achieve your strategic goals earlier: internal communication is improved and the same applies to global processes. Information on shift events is available centrally and can be viewed by all authorized persons worldwide. The effort involved in searching for information is reduced, shift handovers are faster, safer and, if necessary, contactless. You and your employees are able to make better and, above all, faster decisions.
A high degree of standardization enables uniform implementation as well as a cost-effective and fast rollout. Not only will new sites be connected, but sites with older versions will also be brought into line with the current Group standard. As soon as all sites are using the standardized digital shift books, global shift operation control and worldwide documentation of shift events, including corresponding reports, will be possible.
The first step is to define a group-wide standard that all companies can agree on. Experience has shown that this phase takes the longest, but it is the basis for later rapid success – end-to-end digitalization of the entire value chain. The standard relates to functionality and integration into processes and with other systems. For example, shift events can be enriched with real-time operating data and maintenance messages can be exchanged with SAP PM.
In further project phases, the roll-out per location is carried out up to the go-live. The first step is to set up the standardized digital shift books for each production site as a test environment – this usually only takes a few hours per site. This step is important so that the sites can quickly check whether the test system meets their expectations. If not, corrections are integrated into the standard. Before the sites go live, employees are trained on the new system using a training platform.
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Christoph Schiffer
Sales Team Germanedge