In October 2016, Atos and The Manufacturer brought together leaders from across the manufacturing sector for their second annual “Transforming Manufacturing, Embracing Digital” roundtable event.
The thoughts of these 20 senior level manufacturers on four key issues impacting the manufacturing sector were captured and documented to create the second edition of the co-branded Directive on Digital Transformation report, whilw keynote addresses from Keith Jackson (CTO of Meggitt), and Conor La Grue (head of engineering for Bloodhound SSC) helped to inform and inspire the attendees.
A culture to change?
One of the issues the attendees talked through was People & Culture and how best to align resources to drive an organisation in the right direction. Drawing on their personal experiences to offer insight into this issue, and discuss the best approach, one attendee stated that, “Change in company culture does not happen from the bottom-up, it can only be effectively changed from the top-down.”
The attendees were largely in agreement on this point and commented on the need for guidance from senior members of an organisation to drive change and ensure they are leading by example.
Staff turnover was a big point of contention for the attendees. While some thought that keeping staff loyal and supporting them through the ranks was the way to go, others highlighted the need for ‘new blood’ in an organisation (especially as the world becomes more and more digital).
One attendee went as far as to say, “We think we need more leaders, more people in managerial positions, but this is not the case, we need more young people, more engineers, and more enthusiastic people pushing things in a digital direction”.
The STEM issue
But finding and recruiting young talent in the UK is an issue in itself, as attendees were quick to mention the decreasing number of students engaging with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) courses in the UK. “In the UK, engineering isn’t perceived as a ‘sexy’ thing to do. This is different in foreign countries that seem to be doing the best job, and we need to look at how we do that here,” one attendee noted.
The section of the report around People and Culture, as well as the entire secondedition of the Directive on Digital Transformation co-branded report are now available for download here.
Unique Insight
This report offers a unique opportunity to hear what leaders in the manufacturing industry are saying first-hand, and how they are handling the issues that are presented to them. The other issues discussed in the full report include: Industry 4.0, New Digital Technologies, and Data & Security.
All the discussions and conclusions from across the event are documented in the i report which also contains key directives to consider when facing your own digital transformation journey. Download the new report here.
