It starts with a Vision

Last week I spoke at Manufacturing Technology Asia 2017, an event co-sponsored by Singapore's Economic Development Board and 25 leading industrial companies. The event exemplified Singapore's vision for creating a thriving ecosystem focused on delivering tangible, scalable outcomes for manufacturers. Establishing that guiding vision, a concept typically dismissed by manufacturers as esoteric, is in fact key to determining the success or failure of your advanced manufacturing initiative.

You may have seen the press around GE’s Brilliant Factory initiative and the gains we’re making throughout the value chain. Recently, I joined some of the national press as they toured several GE facilities, including the Lab at the Digital Hub in Detroit. While in Detroit, Marc Greuther, the Chief Curator of The Henry Ford museum gave us a private tour, and told us how Mr. Ford was a true visionary who found the very best technologies and expertise to bring that vision to life - nothing surprising there. But what stuck with me is that he surmised Mr. Ford could never have achieved what he did without this ecosystem of inventors and engineers, and that the ecosystem would never have thrived without Mr. Ford’s vision. In short, one could not excel without the other, but more importantly, he believed none would have had the same impact without a guiding vision – Mr. Ford’s vision.

“Vision without execution is just hallucination.” Henry Ford

In the industrial space, we are overwhelmed with a constant stream of news, analysis and conjecture on everything from the distinctions between Industry 4.0 to Brilliant Manufacturing to the date, time and location where the robots will rise up. These all seem like a lot of tactical analyses. I’d argue this is a lot of the what, when we need to focus, as Simon Sinek succinctly explains, on the why, the Vision - to start

No endless stream of random acts of brilliance will coalesce into that vision. That vision can ultimately expose the value, which is then fueled by those tactics, but it needs to be defined first.

When I came to GE in 2014 to drive the Brilliant Factory initiative, that vision included creating a far more consumable, composeable environment for seamlessly delivering the data and insights needed to allow a qualified operator to act as the CEO of their machine or cell. Of course, this works under the assumption that a well informed and motivated operator is best positioned to positively impact the effectiveness of the entire value chain, and is not easily replaced by a machine. Today, that vision has expanded to include AI (Augmented Intelligence), where machine learning, the IIoT, and augmented reality converge at the operator's eyeball, summoned on command, and directly relevant to the task at hand. Easy to describe, much harder to deliver without a vibrant and focused ecosystem driven by a guiding vision.

So, it starts with a vision. Whether we are talking to enthusiastic youth about STEM or budding engineering minds about the neural lace, I don’t think that most people (other than the small community of supply chain geeks like me that post to LinkedIn over the weekend) really care about the what, nor will they embrace the how until they know why. Manufacturing folks, those at the front line adding value every hour of every day know that more than anyone, and respond accordingly.

I’ve shared more detail on developing that vision in this post, and I’d welcome your thoughts on the power and necessity of the vision, as well as how we develop that within the ever more complex manufacturing value chain. I have seen what that vision can do firsthand in driving the marketplace, delivering new solutions, and ultimately returning huge value to shareholders as well as the front-line folks who make things that power the world. 

It’s pretty exciting to watch that vision come to life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Paul Boris, Vice President of Manufacturing Industries for GE Digital, started his career at General Motors in manufacturing and operations. Paul’s previous role at GE was CIO for Advanced Manufacturing Strategy, where he drove the Brilliant Factory initiatives by using big data, software, sensors, controllers and robotics to increase productivity and deliver asset and operations optimization. He has served in leadership roles across a wide variety of manufacturing operations, as well as within organizations providing enterprise class solutions for manufacturing and operations, and today works closely with manufacturing leadership world-wide to define and deliver their own vision. He also sits on the board of Vuzix, a leading provider of wearable solutions for industrial and consumer use.

Please note: my comments and philosophies are my own, and have been developed over my 30+ years in, around and driving the manufacturing space. I welcome your feedback, dissent and/or questions (applause of course) in a productive way that helps us all add value to the universe. Not in a pseudo-spiritual way - though that is good as well - but in a way that allows us to harness and enhance the only true, fully renewable resource – the human imagination.