LIVE from Connected Manufacturing Worker

People and culture topped the agenda as the Connected Manufacturing Worker opened Tuesday in London's Wembley Park. 

The event brings together operational and digital leaders from manufacturers, such as LEGO, Reckitt, P&G, Ford, Morgan Materials and many more, to discuss how digital technology can transform business operations and connect workers like never before. 

The topics on everyone's mind included accelerating transformation, closing the digital skills gap, and navigating supply chain disruption, while driving quality and productivity improvements throught out the business. 

A few highlights of Tuesday's sessions:

Jesper Toubol, Vice President of Operations - Moulding Production at LEGO group, shared how his company uses a "Dragon's Den" type of format to solicit ideas and engagement from workers. Teams pitch an idea - with a defined value proposition and resourcing request - to get sponsors and investments to make it a reality.

Suranjan Ghosh, Global Operations Director, Thermal Products Division at Morgan Advanced Materials, discussed how every decision you make in the manufacturing environment will have both intended outcomes and unintended consequences.

The challenge of ensuring security of material in a challenging supply chain environment, for instance, can mean increasing inventory. The knock on effect is that this reduces the cash available to deal with ongoing volatility. How do you get the trade offs right? 

"The more you're able to talk to people and share perspectives, the more they will help you work through a problem," he explains. 

Daniel Grobe, Co-founder and CCO of Operations1, a cloud-based operations platform, offered his take on the hype of Industry 4.0 versus the reality.

Industry 4.0 promises to revolutionize business operations through artificial intelligence, robotics, automation and futuristic technology, he says. What most companies have delivered, however, amounts to nothing more than PDFs on tablets and big screens.

"To guide your people, it's not just about sharing information," he explains. "It's making sure that information is captured and processes are followed the right way."

The importance of engaging and upskilling people as their job roles change was seen as imperative to any digitial innovation and connected workflow. 

"You're only as good as your people," said Kev Vardy, Manager Digitalization Services at Petrofac.

The Connected Manufacturing Worker wraps up on Wednesday with more interactive sessions case studies from companies like GSK, Ford, BP.

Follow on ongoing coverage LIVE on Industrial Transformation Network.

Interested in learning more? 

Our Connected Worker events series is heading to Chicago next. Join over 200 industry leaders on November 15-17, 2022 and learn how to build a connected workforce to improve resilience, agility and growth in a recovering economy. Download the agenda for more information.