This article was originally published on Railly News.

Rockwell Automation Connected Enterprise Operations Director Mick Mancuso said that during the Covid-19 pandemic companies are strengthening their adaptation in digital production and they have no intention of slowing down, “We witnessed a pause when the pandemic started to hit different parts of the world. Now, all we see is a rapid transformation. And this is now a must, ”he explained.

Stating that Rockwell Automation has led the digital transformation of its operations and now shares its lessons and expertise from its experiences in this journey with customers, Mancuso stated that three important trends emerged during the pandemic process at the Automation Fair At Home event:

“First, more companies want to securely connect their remote workers. In fact, manufacturing has already been going towards a period of social distance. He wanted to be able to connect and manage production, even from home, be it IT, operations or engineering employees. Of course we want to do this safely. We also want to see how things are going.

The second trend is that the demand for automation continues. New assets and new data points are joining online. These need to be linked to the overall company.

Third, the idea that the supply chain should be resilient. Stating that the pandemic has revealed the gaps in the supply chain, Mancuso said, “There was an increase in demand in some sectors. Therefore, digital transformation has also gained momentum, ”he explained.

Mancuso In his speech, he shared five recommendations to benefit from digital transformation during the Covid-19 pandemic:

1. Get the support of the administrators. “We see more managers involved in the process. There was serious support for digitalization before the pandemic, but now the support of the managers is critical because the transformation is actually about the corporate culture. When an administrator is not involved, the application may be focusing on technology or not interacting with other applications. We can now see that a C-level manager, even a CEO, a champion is involved in the process. ”
2. Build a cross-functional team. “Companies were able to move in this direction before, but there were barriers and gaps. Many of these barriers have been broken due to the pandemic. Everyone got together very quickly to realize these digital transformations. IT and OT experts need to be in the same team. “
3. Set a plan.“It’s still very important to have a plan. Although companies that are different now are trying to move to the new normal very quickly, they need to think more carefully and formulate their strategies. So what are the keys to accelerate the work? Change management is very important, especially in production. It is really important to be able to manage this transformation. Also, success will come with the adoption of this transformation by employees. “
4. Ensure the security of your operational technology environments.“Securing OT environments is more important than ever. By taking more risks, you open the door to some opportunities. Cyber ​​risks continue to exist, whether IT or OT. Securing the environment is still very important. Often OT environments have their own networks and different business priorities. The cost of breaking a 7/24 network will be very high. “
5. Work with the right technology and partners. “While dealing with the effects of the pandemic, for many companies, working with the right technology and partners has been an accelerator. Previously, many teams would conduct deep analysis of internal activities. Now it has become really important to use the right technology and work with the right partners. People are looking for future-ready technologies. The ability to scale is critical. We focus on platform-based technologies to minimize integration efforts and maximize scalability. Having an outside partner can fill important gaps. The most important criteria for choosing a partner in your field are speed, speed and speed, so you want to work with someone who knows the technology and understands how to apply it. “

Mancuso“There are ways to start this process very quickly, for example you can use the IoT platform. Another way is to connect your employees. Imagine connecting an employee who is not very experienced in the field to someone who is much more experienced with augmented reality. Being able to provide this communication, to record and share the conversation is something that creates added value. We are witnessing that augmented reality features are now being used in many more cases. “

Mancuso“When you think about how you can make your technologies, for example your platform-based approach ready for the future, you can find specific point-to-point solutions to the problem you want to solve, but holistic platforms can be used in many applications from work orders to basic analytics and quality monitoring. Digital transformation is very important. At the beginning of the pandemic, companies were questioning whether it would work for them. Now they understand that they are working in a different environment, need to be connected and informed. We are helping them to achieve this. “

Image via Railly News