WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.269 --> 00:00:03.269
(upbeat rock music)
2
00:00:10.950 --> 00:00:13.830
Digitizing operations is more than a nice-to-have
3
00:00:13.830 --> 00:00:15.240
for manufacturing companies;
4
00:00:15.240 --> 00:00:17.460
it's an imperative, and they know it.
5
00:00:17.460 --> 00:00:19.860
More than 80% of them are actively investing
6
00:00:19.860 --> 00:00:23.720
in digital operations, according to a recent BCG survey.
7
00:00:23.720 --> 00:00:26.830
Digitization, when done right and at scale,
8
00:00:26.830 --> 00:00:28.310
yields impressive upsides,
9
00:00:28.310 --> 00:00:31.130
including a 10% to 20% reduction in production
10
00:00:31.130 --> 00:00:32.460
and supply chain costs.
11
00:00:32.460 --> 00:00:34.950
As our casework and research has made clear,
12
00:00:34.950 --> 00:00:37.920
a wide variety of success factors separate the leaders
13
00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:39.080
from the laggards.
14
00:00:39.080 --> 00:00:41.600
Ford stands out among the leaders.
15
00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:44.220
To find out what companies in all manufacturing sectors
16
00:00:44.220 --> 00:00:46.120
can learn from Ford’s success,
17
00:00:46.120 --> 00:00:48.470
we've come to its Advanced Manufacturing Center
18
00:00:48.470 --> 00:00:50.260
here in Redford, Michigan.
19
00:00:50.260 --> 00:00:53.410
Ford has invested in the center to accelerate deployment
20
00:00:53.410 --> 00:00:55.530
of digital operations use cases
21
00:00:55.530 --> 00:00:57.263
across its manufacturing network.
22
00:01:02.300 --> 00:01:04.810
Hi Mike. When you think about Ford's ambition
23
00:01:04.810 --> 00:01:06.380
for digital operations,
24
00:01:06.380 --> 00:01:08.400
first, how would you describe that?
25
00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:11.018
and then second, what do you see as the major challenges
26
00:01:11.018 --> 00:01:12.970
that you faced along the way?
27
00:01:12.970 --> 00:01:16.250
Our vision is to really leverage access
28
00:01:16.250 --> 00:01:19.140
to not just digitization of our manufacturing process
29
00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:21.710
but also the product realization,
30
00:01:21.710 --> 00:01:23.320
product development process,
31
00:01:23.320 --> 00:01:25.210
how our products are performing in the field,
32
00:01:25.210 --> 00:01:29.170
what our customers are interested in, and incorporating that into
33
00:01:29.170 --> 00:01:31.300
a really intelligent manufacturing process,
34
00:01:31.300 --> 00:01:33.440
one that really delivers the greatest value
35
00:01:33.440 --> 00:01:34.670
to our customers.
36
00:01:34.670 --> 00:01:37.490
This center, and your team specifically,
37
00:01:37.490 --> 00:01:40.050
what is your role in trying to overcome
38
00:01:40.050 --> 00:01:42.160
some of those challenges and speed up Ford
39
00:01:42.160 --> 00:01:43.130
along this journey?
40
00:01:43.130 --> 00:01:47.290
We have really a few principle priorities
41
00:01:47.290 --> 00:01:48.650
around data analytics
42
00:01:48.650 --> 00:01:52.960
and digital factory, digital engineering methods,
43
00:01:52.960 --> 00:01:55.940
process innovation, and certainly additive manufacturing.
44
00:01:55.940 --> 00:01:57.710
So we have people that are leading
45
00:01:57.710 --> 00:02:00.296
each of those five pillars.
46
00:02:00.296 --> 00:02:02.690
Where we're really getting the benefit is the fact
47
00:02:02.690 --> 00:02:05.416
that we're working across many of those priorities.
48
00:02:05.416 --> 00:02:06.417
Right.
49
00:02:06.417 --> 00:02:08.140
And the fact that we’re co-located in a place
50
00:02:09.162 --> 00:02:10.450
where we can really innovate across
51
00:02:10.450 --> 00:02:12.810
and incorporate the technologies
52
00:02:12.810 --> 00:02:14.900
at the right level and the right places
53
00:02:14.900 --> 00:02:17.600
to create really innovative, practical solutions.
54
00:02:17.600 --> 00:02:18.433
Yeah.
55
00:02:18.433 --> 00:02:20.120
I think that’s the real advantage
56
00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:22.218
of the Advanced Manufacturing Center
57
00:02:22.218 --> 00:02:23.051
and the people that are here.
58
00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:26.560
Structure and facilitation are essential.
59
00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:29.080
Many companies mistakenly conduct a broad survey
60
00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:31.360
to solicit ideas from operations employees
61
00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:35.530
or follow an ad hoc, first-come-first-served process.
62
00:02:35.530 --> 00:02:38.760
The problem is, without proper guidance about the context,
63
00:02:38.760 --> 00:02:40.390
employees often identify projects
64
00:02:40.390 --> 00:02:42.930
that are too narrow in scope or not scalable.
65
00:02:42.930 --> 00:02:45.230
How do you get your ideas?
66
00:02:45.230 --> 00:02:47.530
There's tons of needs and pain points
67
00:02:47.530 --> 00:02:49.550
and noise really from the organization,
68
00:02:49.550 --> 00:02:52.880
but how do you prioritize the places where you focus?
69
00:02:52.880 --> 00:02:55.160
They really come from three places.
70
00:02:55.160 --> 00:02:57.250
One is whatever the product demands are.
71
00:02:57.250 --> 00:02:59.930
So if you have areas in your current production processes
72
00:02:59.930 --> 00:03:03.660
where you're not meeting the customer requirements,
73
00:03:03.660 --> 00:03:06.970
those are obvious areas of focus.
74
00:03:06.970 --> 00:03:09.580
Sometimes in our product development plans,
75
00:03:09.580 --> 00:03:14.330
the product requirements for a new model may require us to
76
00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:18.878
innovate a process to meet some of the requirements.
77
00:03:18.878 --> 00:03:21.301
From manufacturing pain points,
78
00:03:21.301 --> 00:03:23.380
when we look across our operations,
79
00:03:23.380 --> 00:03:27.230
Ford has a very mature process for measuring performance
80
00:03:27.230 --> 00:03:29.290
across many indices.
81
00:03:29.290 --> 00:03:31.370
And so it's pretty easy for us to stratify
82
00:03:31.370 --> 00:03:33.270
our current process performance,
83
00:03:33.270 --> 00:03:35.480
recognize plants that are struggling
84
00:03:35.480 --> 00:03:40.480
and that might need help with a solution to close a gap to best end.
85
00:03:43.226 --> 00:03:48.226
Then the third source is we do a lot of technology scouting
86
00:03:49.570 --> 00:03:53.210
and looking for technology that maybe hadn't been
87
00:03:53.210 --> 00:03:56.100
previously considered as automotive application
88
00:03:56.100 --> 00:03:59.730
and evaluating where it may fit.
89
00:03:59.730 --> 00:04:02.790
The Center provides a unique physical space for testing,
90
00:04:02.790 --> 00:04:05.840
as well as access to specific technical skill sets
91
00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:08.190
that can be best utilized centrally.
92
00:04:08.190 --> 00:04:10.850
So how have you thought about building your team
93
00:04:10.850 --> 00:04:14.490
and structuring your team to really help Ford
94
00:04:14.490 --> 00:04:15.323
along this journey?
95
00:04:15.323 --> 00:04:19.509
So we made sure that the organization was small enough
96
00:04:19.509 --> 00:04:24.509
to be nimble but large enough to have significant impact.
97
00:04:25.950 --> 00:04:29.110
Our plan going forward, my plan going forward is to do
98
00:04:29.110 --> 00:04:32.450
some level of turnover where, as the technology
99
00:04:32.450 --> 00:04:33.763
continues to move,
100
00:04:34.750 --> 00:04:37.650
and we deliver solutions into the operations
101
00:04:37.650 --> 00:04:39.730
or into product programs,
102
00:04:39.730 --> 00:04:42.165
I want to move some of the people from this organization
103
00:04:42.165 --> 00:04:45.410
into those product programs and into those facilities.
104
00:04:45.410 --> 00:04:48.550
I want to extract either people from the operations
105
00:04:48.550 --> 00:04:52.130
or recruit from industry or
106
00:04:52.130 --> 00:04:56.580
from academia the next generation of forward thinkers.
107
00:04:56.580 --> 00:05:00.420
Ford's center features several cells in which agile teams
108
00:05:00.420 --> 00:05:03.650
use proof-of-concept projects to test technologies,
109
00:05:03.650 --> 00:05:05.610
including additive manufacturing,
110
00:05:05.610 --> 00:05:07.830
collaborative robots, machine vision,
111
00:05:07.830 --> 00:05:09.570
and automated guided vehicles.
112
00:05:09.570 --> 00:05:10.710
Obviously you're experimenting
113
00:05:10.710 --> 00:05:12.190
with a lot of different things,
114
00:05:12.190 --> 00:05:14.704
but are there particular technologies
115
00:05:14.704 --> 00:05:17.010
that you're doubling down on, so to speak,
116
00:05:17.010 --> 00:05:18.440
in this organization?
117
00:05:18.440 --> 00:05:21.480
We have a significant footprint of additive manufacturing
118
00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:22.800
at Ford Motor Company.
119
00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:24.490
It's somewhat distributors,
120
00:05:24.490 --> 00:05:26.704
it's historically been somewhat distributed.
121
00:05:26.704 --> 00:05:27.537
Sure, in the plants?
122
00:05:27.537 --> 00:05:29.480
In the plants and in product development
123
00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:34.480
and in some of our relationships with, again, academia.
124
00:05:34.570 --> 00:05:39.100
So the commitment to consolidate and bring the people
125
00:05:39.100 --> 00:05:40.810
and the equipment here,
126
00:05:40.810 --> 00:05:43.320
and really focus some of the development work
127
00:05:43.320 --> 00:05:46.320
around the next generation of materials,
128
00:05:46.320 --> 00:05:50.030
accelerating some of the openness of the software
129
00:05:50.030 --> 00:05:52.280
and the material sources,
130
00:05:52.280 --> 00:05:56.260
really developing automotive-grade solutions
131
00:05:56.260 --> 00:06:00.010
with the computing power that is emerging.
132
00:06:00.010 --> 00:06:02.980
It's now providing an opportunity to introduce
133
00:06:02.980 --> 00:06:05.360
artificial intelligence in places
134
00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:07.802
that we hadn't historically had the opportunity.
135
00:06:07.802 --> 00:06:10.890
So it's been really exciting to see,
136
00:06:10.890 --> 00:06:13.280
in much more simple processes,
137
00:06:13.280 --> 00:06:15.570
where you can introduce artificial intelligence
138
00:06:15.570 --> 00:06:17.690
and really accelerate process performance.
139
00:06:17.690 --> 00:06:18.981
Yeah.
140
00:06:18.981 --> 00:06:20.660
Reflecting on your journey over the past couple years,
141
00:06:20.660 --> 00:06:23.100
what advice do you have for someone in your shoes
142
00:06:23.100 --> 00:06:24.250
in a different company?
143
00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:26.710
It's really important to not be afraid to fail.
144
00:06:26.710 --> 00:06:31.110
That's really important. And it's easy to say, hard to do.
145
00:06:31.110 --> 00:06:32.610
In order to innovate sometimes
146
00:06:33.562 --> 00:06:35.220
you have to not follow processes.
147
00:06:35.220 --> 00:06:36.790
So I think that's one of the first pieces
148
00:06:36.790 --> 00:06:38.557
of advice I would give.
149
00:06:38.557 --> 00:06:40.440
You can't be afraid, there will be failures,
150
00:06:40.440 --> 00:06:44.130
you need to have the humility to learn from those things.
151
00:06:44.130 --> 00:06:46.800
That would be one of the biggest pieces of advice.
152
00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:49.560
One of the things I've really been impressed
153
00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:51.744
by with the team that I have here is
154
00:06:51.744 --> 00:06:54.320
it seems like the more fun we have,
155
00:06:54.320 --> 00:06:57.439
the higher the quality of the output
156
00:06:57.439 --> 00:06:59.440
and the higher the volume of the output.
157
00:06:59.440 --> 00:07:00.442
You gotta have fun.
158
00:07:00.442 --> 00:07:03.942
And I think you can have fun in your work.
159
00:07:05.400 --> 00:07:07.690
Ford has made great progress in transitioning
160
00:07:07.690 --> 00:07:09.390
to digital operations,
161
00:07:09.390 --> 00:07:11.570
but most companies have seen mixed results.
162
00:07:11.570 --> 00:07:14.770
Simply put, it's hard to digitize operations.
163
00:07:14.770 --> 00:07:18.570
A company needs to invest massively in change management,
164
00:07:18.570 --> 00:07:22.330
new technical skill sets, cross-functional collaboration,
165
00:07:22.330 --> 00:07:25.690
strategic investments, and access to pricey talent.
166
00:07:25.690 --> 00:07:28.720
It must also evaluate a daunting array of new technologies
167
00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:29.870
and vendors.
168
00:07:29.870 --> 00:07:33.203
And these are just the prerequisites.