SAP's Calvin Saw gives a glimpse of the new era in manufacturing

The company’s industry business architect shares key benefits of adapting an Industry 4.0 model for manufacturers.

Digitisation is transforming the DNA of industrial manufacturing, with manufacturers—big and small—trying to gain competitive advantage by utilising emerging technologies and trends.

As the pandemic fills the world with uncertainties, manufacturing demand, supply, and operations are all affected. This is alongside the pressure of providing to customers, the new revolution, as well as advances in information technology. These have pushed manufacturing organisations to digitise their business processes to avoid falling behind the new breed of emerging digital champions in the market.

In the first installment of SAP’s pilot series of podcasts - SAP Industry Insights - Industry 4.0 - The New Era in Manufacturing, Calvin Saw, SAP industry business architect discussed the digitisation of the manufacturing industry, opportunities for industry players, trends and shifts in the Asia Pacific region since the pandemic, as well as the industry 4.0 and its benefits to manufacturers.

“We are looking at an early stage of companies that are trying to quickly respond to changes in the market, to those disruptions, making sure that they have sufficient supply or sufficient workforce to actually keep the lights on,” said Calvin in the podcast.

More digitised companies that have adopted direct consumer models and digitisation are much more resilient during these trying times compared to brick and mortar stores. Data has become more important in recent times as having access to reliable and real-time data becomes a necessity for coordinating the right response—be it medical response or business response.

What is industry 4.0?
Industry 4.0—sensors and smart manufacturing—is becoming a real need as the industry looks at the potential manufacturing wave moving forward, Calvin said. The acceleration of industry 4.0 was caused by reduction of the cost in sensors, as well the ecosystem becoming more mature. This has given industry 4.0 the potential to move from a factory-focused initiative to a company -wide business process strategy initiative.

“Companies are actually utilising that to develop intelligent products or SS in order to capture more information and integrate, I think the goal is basically to integrate more deeply into the horizontal business processes,” he added.

In the case of SAP, they stick to the organisation processes of their clients and their prospect with regards to industry 4.0. The firm then tries to design the process and automation, putting customers at the center of the ecosystem, employees as a second, and the supporting business processes that surround it.

In adapting industry 4.0, Calvin notes that businesses must know the criteria and the goal of the organisation, and what they want to achieve in their digital transformation journey as its success depends on their strategic plan. Upon successful implementation, this is expected to increase competitiveness of companies, safeguard and utilise assets, improve customer centricity, enhance quality of workforce, refine talents, and build on collaboration networks.

However, Calvin concludes that a well-defined criteria might still undergo revisions and changes, depending on the needs and target goals of the organisation. Businesses must keep in mind that they should prioritise goal setting, adaption of management changes, and KPI setting to ensure success.

For more information, subscribe now to SAP’s channels in Spotify and Google podcasts or visit sap.com/sea