Digital Transformation in Automotive Industry
Published on : Tuesday 11-04-2023
Bilal Ahmed elaborates on driving the change by reshaping the manufacturing workforce.
The effect of digital disruption is undeniable. As self-driving cars emerge, electric vehicle sales are on the rise, the automotive industry is changing. Consumers are looking for an expanded set of demands to be fulfilled. Because of social platforms and accessibility to the internet, users are now making decisions based on the feedback coming all around the world.
In this transformational time the value we are proposing to the customer is a deciding factor whether our product will stand a chance in the market. Staying on the top of order is not easy if thinking about the future is not on the priority list.
In the case of the automotive industry, the challenges are not just related to adopting the technologies but also to making the complete value chain agile enough. Technologies like Data Analytics and Industrial Internet of Things are capable enough to give you the real time control on the systems, but it is a different task to design and combine all these technologies to make a smart and sustainable environment.
The other aspect to this is Innovation. Innovation usually refers to a sudden spark of creativity and the incipient actions that follow. But who will innovate and re-imagine the transformed value chain, particularly when we are talking about the transformation which will take time to happen?
Competition
In a highly competitive environment where all parties are trying to accomplish the same thing, new capabilities are evolving. There is more competition in the market because of digital technology, which brings more new entrants. Digital transformation should be viewed as a hyper-specialisation because of this reason.
Now it is not about being competitive with the companies in our industry but at the same time, asymmetric competitors can emerge who have no resemblance to us. Due to digital ‘disintermediation’, middlemen are displaced from the value chain, which alters the market dynamics.
Data
How businesses produce the data, manage it and harness the power of data is critical to every industry. In the case of the automotive industry, from designing to delivery, and services to vehicle health, everything is now visible thanks to the sensors.
Autonomous vehicles are a reality now. And all that becomes possible because of the Data and AI models.
Data Monetisation is another concept for generating measurable economic benefits from available data sources.
Electric vehicles
AI is additionally making a difference, to create another era of electric and low-emission vehicles. Much appreciated for machine learning models that can quickly anticipate how batteries will react beneath distinctive conditions, engineers are emphasising fast-charging innovation much more quickly than would be conceivable with conventional testing strategies. Assisted, shrewdly charging frameworks will help drivers of long-term guarantee they will never run out of control.
Data is playing a very critical role in making all this possible. Targeting the suitable market, ease in placing the order, creating better plans and schedules to be executed inside the factory, quality control at every process, managing supply chains, traceability of the material and product, and predictive maintenance of every piece of equipment inside the factory.
The list is even longer but it becomes important for the organisation to understand and create a strategy to use all this information. Each operation happening inside the organisation should be data-driven but how to leverage this low hanging fruit is a challenge. Creating a capability inside the organisation will give a boost to this initiative.
Digital transformation is changing every bit in our environment. It is crucial and the need of the hour to see how we will adapt to the changing scenarios. If we look at the skills and knowledge set required 10 years before and now, is completely transformed. Now new talent expectations are coming from the manufacturing operations. When we talk about technologies and using them, another crucial aspect to think about is the workforce. In terms of adaptability and leveraging the full potential of these technologies, re-orientation is required.
The situation in the industry is highly dynamic and that makes the organisations to look at different roles from the perspective of digital. There is increased demand for certain roles, and some roles are completely transformed. In this scenario, it is important for all the organisations to look at it from the perspective of capability development (Figure 1. Source: 2020 Gartner smart manufacturing strategy and implementation trend survey).
In this domain we have 3 different categories to target – Frontline workers, Middle Management, and Top leadership.
Frontline workers
It is important to understand the situation when we are bringing new technologies into the factories. It changes the way we operate and manage the whole system. How humane interacting with these technologies directly or indirectly will change. How we as people perceive this and accept this becomes important for that technology to sustain inside the factory. Data literacy is another aspect to this acceptance. If we start understanding the data available to us it will start reflecting as input to the improvisation to the existing setup and designing the new mechanism for addressing the challenges.
Middle management
When we are creating digital champions in any organisation it is important to first bring down the vision from leadership to management. Because the decisions taken at that level will affect the acceleration towards the organisation’s goal. In the era of Industry 4.0 every automotive industry is streamlining their operations from designing to the delivery and beyond that.
Creating digital champions at this level will support the overall adoption of Industry 4.0. This will support the automation of current processes, understanding the existing network of the organisation, finding the scope of collecting the data and visualisation of the available pool of data to generate insight.
At the end this whole effort will support the optimisation of processes in every operation. These champions will become digital leaders in taking the initiative. Even if they are not experts in machine learning and AI, they will be capable enough to convert the problem statement in a language which can be suitable for such an expert.
Top leadership
Due to digital ‘disintermediation’ it is now a big game in which everybody is playing a role. The partner we have now can be a big competitor in the future. The other side of it is, even if the organisations have no direct or indirect connection to our market, the services they are providing to their customers can generate a new set of requirements from our customers’ understanding of digital and data, and how important it is for business. Connected vehicles are another area where a lot of investment is going from the automotive industry. Awareness about the megatrends shaping up the industry will lead us to make better decisions. How industries apart from automotive are using these technologies and platforms, how new business models are emerging all these learning contribute to the journey of becoming a digital leader.
Digital for the automotive industry is to become an agile and connected environment. At a time when low-emission vehicles are on the rise, the market is uncertain, expanded set of requirements from customers makes it challenging for the automotive industry to be at the top. Every touchpoint of the customer or any internal stakeholders is now becoming input to the business model. How our organisation is using it to strategise our next move will be the key differentiator.
How can C4i4 Lab help?
Capability Development Program: We empower change agents, who can become catalysts to initiate, strategise and drive across value-chain digital transformation.
Assessment and Roadmap Consulting: We consult organisations from assessing to design and implement new ways of working and attempting the desired outcome; also, to assess the operations and impact of data analytics.
C4i4 Lab’s Model Factory sets an outstanding example where one can participate, interact, and see first-hand the use of advanced technologies.
Article courtesy C4i4 Lab
Bilal Ahmed holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun, and a master's degree in Technology in Smart Manufacturing from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
In his postgraduate course, he worked on projects such as Data Analytics for Predictive Maintenance, Flight Simulation for Automatic Transfer of Control, Imitation Learning for Robots, and Design Thinking for New Product Development.
In 2021, he joined the C4i4 Lab. Now, he is heading the Capability Development Program for C4i4 Lab which is one of the SMARTH Udyog Centre Initiative by the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
