The only constant in life is change.
Transformation is all around us. Every day we are surrounded by things that were not the same 10 years ago.
How many times have you sworn after driving through another new pothole?
How much technology do you have in your own life, compared to ten years ago?
How many new traffic lights and developments have you seen go up in the last decade?
I’m currently sitting here overlooking the Grand Canyon, perched a few feet from the edge. If you have not seen this place, you need to. This is a transcendent experience. In a glance you realize how small you are as a person. You also get a prime example of transformation.
Lifetimes of water slowly eroding away bedrock, creating something that looks like it belongs in a 60’s Hollywood movie backdrop, something that is larger than life. I’ve seen this place in photographs and painted on canvas, but somehow the real thing is just beyond comprehension.
What does the Grand Canyon have to do with manufacturing?
The only constant in life is change. The only constant in manufacturing is change. We are currently in The Fourth Industrial Revolution. THE FOURTH!
My grandmother grew up on a farm. She remembers being woken in the middle of the night up to get the cows when they escaped. She remembers taking the sled across Lake Ontario to Toronto.
The land she grew up on has been a subdivision for longer than I’ve been alive.
At this moment, the idea of change is scary. Trying to transform a process that “works just fine,” to something that is more efficient and easier on the operator may seem crazy, foolish, or even impossible.
But we must.
Why must we transform?
The world is not going to stop. The world, and the world of industry, will keep charging forward. The world won’t give you time to pause, to catch-up, to adjust. Time and change care not for us mere mortals. Even bedrock erodes in the end.
If we are only one or two generations removed from the farm, what gives us the hubris to assume that we have figured out this factory work? That we cannot make it better?
It’s a process.
Transformation is not an all or nothing proposition. As the Grand Canyon has taught us, it is a slow process. Ever evolving, ever changing.
Just as water has carved a natural wonder, slowly but surely, we can transform your facility.
I invite you to take a look at my Digital Transformation Quick Start Guide. Here I lay out 5 steps to start your transformational process.
After that, I invite you to reach out to me. I would be happy to be your guide along this journey. Shoot me a note [email protected] and we can get started.
