I guess you might be thinking ‘The Digital Cake’ ?? What the…
Let me explain…
The digital cake is an analogy used to explain the level of knowledge needed well in advance of beginning the process of tactical deployment.
At its basic level to make a cake we need to determine what kind of cake we are going to make, whether that be a lemon or a chocolate cake or
whatever cake we want to make. Once this is determined we then list out the ingredients we need to make this specific cake. Once the list is
developed we can then decide which of the ingredients we need to purchase as we may have some already within the kitchen cupboards. Once
the right ingredients are purchased, we then need a process / sequence to follow to ensure that we have the best opportunity to achieve the
outcome needed.
From a digital perspective the cake represents the strategic intention of the business. Why have we decided to use industry 4.0 / digital and what
is it that we are going to achieve with it. Once intent has been determined we can then select the correct technologies (ingredients) that are
needed to achieve the digital cake we have decided to make.
The process or method represents the strategic guide path needed to achieve the predetermined outcome sought by the business. Here, it is
not a single ingredient that makes the cake but the right selection of ingredients and how they are aggregated together in a predetermined way,
which is the recipe for achieving the specified outcomes.
Without these basic steps to make the cake then we should all agree that we have a zero chance of achieving the outcome we need. Why then do
we see these basic steps in the wrong sequence and sometimes missing completely within the digital world? Some examples you will all see out
within industry are technology for the sake of technology, implementing any technology and labelling it industry 4.0, lack of a robust strategy
which people fully understand, lack of strategy and roadmap and many more.
The knock-on effect leads to in many cases fragmented return on investment, isolated improvement which provides little in the way of impact,
expensive capital investment which provides little in the way of return and arguably the most important we are still facing the issues we have
always faced within our operation. Arguably in some cases were missing the point all together.
The question is then to think about the reasons for these failures and what can be done to overcome these concerns. We have found some
reasons for these failures and the evidence explains that success does have a path. All of which will be discussed later in your journey.
If you need to get in touch, then you know where I am.
Michael
Michael@industry4.0education.co.uk
The Digital Cake by Dr Michael Bainbridge
