CIO HandBook 2011 "Manufacturing is not just a workshop but an engineering design concept requiring operational excellence'"

The manufacturing industry is considered to be a very traditional one, which requires a close and coordinated approach. And that is possible only through effective collaboration and IT usage. At ABB, one of the key focus is to add value to the business with IT. Presently the CIOs of any industry or vertical have several challenges related to IT implementation in different departments and divisions while the demand of IT varies from department to department. This is where the CIO needs to find out the urgency and demand from users on IT needs and deploy the right solutions so that businesses do not suffer. One of the ways to ensure this can be to either completely or else partly outsource IT to a third party vendor. The other way out opted by most CIOs is to go for insourcing or having an in-house development system for planning, warehouse management, barcoding, and scanning.

One of the challenges in the manufacturing industry is the complexity and design of the product. You need to deliver consistent product designs, quality, and ensure that things are delivered on time. Here IT can be an enabler. CIOs need to focus on managing the complexity and this can be done by a proper support system which will reduce time to market, and improve productivity and quality.

ABB had come up with a concept called One Simple ABB project in 2007 wherein we consolidated the whole ERP system. In ERP we dont just consider HR and finance but also take into account the whole operations. This one simple project at ABB helped to ensure the development of the payroll cost (manual work was automated) and increased the process quality while updating the existing payroll solutions.

We dont yet see too much cloud adoption in India, however CIOs want to understand the potential of the cloud to control costs. Last year we decided to make the organization scalable. We have already implemented VMware solution for virtualization while consolidation is in the last stage. We have put 28 servers on the virtual environment and are noticing the benefits. Cloud is a viable option, but it is important to look at it from a value and cost control perspective.

We need to look at IT from the operations efficiency and business value angle. Collaboration and social networking as platforms can also add value to the business enabling effective employee communication.

A lot of CIO and IT heads have also now started talking about innovation. Differentiating yourself from the rest of the competitors and providing a value proposition to your customers become key in the present economic scenario. This is where a manufacturing company such as ABB has started focusing a lot on innovation. At ABB we give our users the freedom and the flexibility to use social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and even Gmail. We believe that communication should not be a barrier between the top management and the users of the organization and we believe social networking and communication helps bridge the gap and helps us innovate. For example we are continuously using social networking sites such as YouTube and Twitter for our robotic division. The robotic division uses second generation FlexPicker, RB360 a robot for pick and place applications. The same robot is the result of 10 years experience and R&D combined with proven packaging technology of the company. The mechanism of the robot in YouTube and other video networking sites helps our customers to understand the technology and also bring to the table of any loopholes that need to be addressed. This way we are able to address the problem and innovate for the future.

As told to PC Suraj
surajp@cybermedia.co.in