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Business agility ( as opposed to firefighting and flexibility ) is having an organization that can , as a whole , respond to change . It ’ s not just the supply chain , but the whole organization ’ s capability ( commercial , finance , etcetera ) to deliver a planned response from the rapid identification of opportunities and threats .
Where your organization has been thrown off-track by firefighting crises ( as many have been every year this decade !) it is not about congratulating your team on successfully handling yet another unforeseen problem . It instead should be seen as an opportunity to understand the root causes for such problems and remove them in 2025 .
Instead of rushing from one reorganization to the next , manufacturing leaders ’ priority needs to be ensuring their business is structured so change can be implemented quickly and throughout the business on an ongoing basis .
An agile capability is key as we can ’ t know everything that will hit us in 2025 . But the rigor of creating properly worked-through plans ensures you are in the best place to respond whatever the challenge . The very best way to have this capability comes through having scenarios and workedthrough plans for responding to the most likely eventualities - worked through by all involved , not just a small team in isolation .
Timely information
Manufacturing businesses are now typically managed with a suite of sophisticated best-ofbreed applications , most of which only talk to each other with a great deal of effort and cost .
Technology that actually integrates in 2025 needs to become a reality and not just words that are used endlessly by technology and implementation partners .
In 2006 Marconi PLC , a pillar of British advanced manufacturing , collapsed – ultimately because senior management were oblivious to the collapse in demand for core products until it was too late . No manufacturer should suffer this fate today with the business information the technology it deploys should deliver , yet many still make decisions based on out-of-date data because the most recent data is not readily available to senior and middle management ! Common examples are financial systems not integrating with planning volumes , and portfolio information not integrating across to demand generation and plans .
In running your manufacturing business , you really should be able to integrate the total enterprise from strategy to detailed execution , whilst ensuring the necessary integrated views of data to allow you and your teams to optimize the enterprise and rapidly identify when the business might be off-plan .
The essential agility and insight to navigate 2025 and beyond ’ s exigencies will always remain elusive to any manufacturer that has not successfully integrated its various platforms to deliver a genuine enterprise model , rather than the current all-too-common position of trying to manage through a network of unintegrated spreadsheets , data silos and Power BI reports that deliver information that is already outof-date the moment the Management Information report arrives .
In the world of ‘ Big Data ’, AI and machine learning , surely 2025 is the time to focus on the ‘ so what ’ of your technology systems , and how all of this can drive superior business outcomes . ■
Les Brookes www . oliverwight-eame . com
Les Brookes is a partner at business transformation consultants Oliver Wight EAME . Oliver Wight is a world leader in IBP consulting ( Integrated Business Planning ). With a focus on transferring knowledge to clients through coaching , mentoring , and workshops , the organization ’ s approach differs from other consultancy firms .
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