Traditionally, the IT organization’s role in manufacturing has been well-defined. At the very core of any chief information officer’s (CIO) mission is to provide tools and technology to make employees and business processes more productive, create new revenue models, and provide data-driven analytics for decision makers. The aforementioned objectives drive adoption of ERP, CRM, SCM, PLM, and BI classes of applications to run front office and back office business operations. The economic value created by these initiatives is measureable and undeniable.

Now, as manufacturing processes become increasingly advanced, we are entering a chapter where IT is playing an integral, if not crucial, role in operations. Historically, OT (Operation Technology) was managed by the chief operating officer (COO) to support manufacturing processes. With the advent of cheaper, intelligent, and standards-based OT technology platforms, we now see the convergence of IT and OT for furthervalue creation in a 21st century manufacturing company. This presents a great opportunity for CIO and COO offices to work together to create a sustainable, competitive advantage.

At Excelitas Technologies, we embarked on this journey a couple of years back. Here are some of the lessons we learned along the way.

Create a shared vision and tackle the organization challenge: It is imperative that COO and CIO offices have a shared vision, a well-defined governance structure, and a plan to harmonize key processes (both business and manufacturing). It is also crucial to allow employees to make mistakes and learn from them. The Silicon Valley motto, “failing fast” is very much applicable in this case.

Implement effective communication and collaboration: Communication protocols should be defined to ensure all stakeholders are aware of these initiatives. Furthermore, IT should treat these projects with a different set of project management standards, and not burden the innovation process with non-value add activities. Lastly, it is paramount to build a “feedback loop” in the communication process so that employees can provide necessary input to continuously improve the project outcome.

Define data integration, security, and governance framework: Intelligent, actionable, and accurate data is central to success in any IT/OT project. In our case, our COO defined the key parameters he wanted to measure and share across our global factories. Based on this input, IT put together data integration architecture, procured necessary tools, and deployed intelligent dashboards. We leveraged our existing investment in key planning tools, such as ERPs and SCMs, to provide a holistic view of material flow and quality metrics that drive continuous improvement (CI) initiatives across our factories. Additionally, it is very important to have data and network security built into the architecture and solution offering to ensure data is protected from hackers and other outside intruders.

In the past, most industries separated IT and OT frameworks and toolsets. Today, OT is adopting IT-like technologies at a rapid pace. The convergence of IT/OT promises cost and risk reduction, flexibility in manufacturing processes, and better decision making to enhance stakeholder value across the board. In my opinion, there is a strong rationale for developing these organizational design and technology frameworks, which stand to create long-lasting value for enterprises worldwide.