Leif Bohlin, CEO at Unifaun, has spent his whole career within the field of supply chain both in the manufacturing and consultancy industry. For the last 20 years, he has been providing SaaS-solutions for the supply chain.
“One big challenge in supply chain management in the manufacturing industry is the increasing speed. We can see that the speed is becoming more and more important. We can see hundreds of examples from other industries where disruptive technology ideas are rising. It will also hit the manufacturing industry and you will see that in the supply chain as well.”
“I think collaboration and visibility are the other two areas where we can see how to leverage people in the organization in a more dynamic, agile and faster way. We also have a visibility issue where new technologies can enable visibility, supporting a company to be more agile and working more dynamically. These are more or less common global trends which can be seen in the manufacturing ecosystem as well.”
Leif Bohlin continues: “We need to understand that technological hype is a fact, it’s part of our society and our daily life. It will affect all industries including the manufacturing industry. We will see an increased flow of new technologies coming on board and it’s going to be a challenge to choose between different solutions and to be selective because there will be a constant flow of new technologies. The digital transformation needs to start from the company’s core competence, core business, what is relevant for the company, your organization, and your culture. You can’t adopt all the new technologies, because then you would get stuck. So, be curious, be open for new technologies, have the radar on, and be selective.”
“My advice for manufacturing companies who are planning their digital transformation journey is to start small, do the pilots, do the proof of concepts, and do your homework. Digital transformation always starts within the organization, from people, from the processes. Remember, technology is not a silver bullet. If your processes are not working, if you’re not organized in a right way, technology will not solve any problem, but it can definitely help you become more efficient, to be more transparent in the organization. But you have to do the homework, you need to know where you’re starting from and when you start, start small. There is no giant leap to the right solution, you have to adopt new ways of working”, summarises Leif Bohlin.
