Dr. Bahaa Roustom, Deputy Head of Marketing & Business development at CSEM, Switzerland.

 

 

In a fast-changing world the need to embrace innovation in digital technology from the side of manufacturers is becoming a must. However, there is still some reluctance to adopt this path for fear of the unknown.

To tackle this topic MET Magazine met with Dr. Bahaa Roustom, Deputy Head of Marketing & Business development at the Swiss Research and Technology Organization CSEM. In this interview we discussed the advantages of implementing digital technologies in manufacturing processes and how a digital transformation could affect the tissue industry.

 

 

There’s a hype today around digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation, maybe we can start by clarifying what each of these mean to the manufacturing industry? 

 

Dr. Bahaa R.: Great place to start! Digitization and Digitalization are often used interchangeably while they have very distinct meanings: Digitization is the process of converting physical or analog information into a digital format. It has become today an integral and “normal” part of our daily life and is already very common in industries, to the extent that I can safely say that the term “digitization” is becoming obsolete in advanced economies, and soon too, globally. On the other hand, Digitalization is the use of digital technologies to create new products, services and business models. We will try to explain this further later on. 

Last but not least, Digital Transformation of a business consists of integrating digital technology into all areas of the business which will radically change how it operates and delivers value to its customers. 

 

A company can state that it has digitally transformed its business, when 50% of its revenues in 5 years’ time will derive from customers who did not exist prior to this transformation.

 

How do you see the impact of digitalization on manufacturing?

 

Dr. Bahaa R.: I believe that digitalization is on its way to disrupt the manufacturing industry. 3D printing, advanced robotics, advanced manufacturing, and IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) are completely reshaping the future of manufacturing, more specifically, “making” the future of manufacturing.

Today adopting digital technologies is an existential affirmation. Either you innovate or you die.

 

Where does digitalization stand in comparison with the third industrial revolution? 

 

Dr. Bahaa R.: The third industrial revolution drastically changed the industrial sector by integrating automation in the manufacturing process, or in other words assigning to machines the tedious/monotonous and even precision tasks that human workers used to do. It also contributed to simplifying processes and flows, upscaling production, and automatizing processes to enter the era of the so-called “mass production” where we moved from customized to unified products.

However, the fourth industrial revolution that is well underway has been having a tremendous impact on business and society, by 1) fusing together the digital, physical and biological worlds, 2) bringing intelligence to machines that became smarter than operator, 3) transforming business operations and business models, and 4) revealing the unlimited potential of data. Some examples include cyber physical systems, Artificial Intelligence, and IoT. 

This will bring us back in one way or another to the initial routes, offering again the possibility to mass-produce customized products and components by using new technologies or leveraging digital technology.

 

How does it apply within the framework of new technologies?

 

Dr. Bahaa R.: Let us take a simple example; 50 years ago, if you wanted to buy a new outfit, you would go to a tailor who would take all your measurements in order to make an outfit that is the perfect fit for you. If another customer shows up, the tailor would have to repeat the same process again. Since the third industrial revolution, automation has allowed mass production based on pre-defined criteria and standards, whereby the same machine can make thousands and thousands of outfits on the basis of “one mold fits all” concept, to be worn by very different customers. 

 

Nowadays augmented/virtual reality, smart/additive manufacturing, advanced robotics, and cloud computing are revolutionizing this approach, allowing the delivery of customized outfits to thousands of people.

 

In what concerns the tissue industry, what is the real impact of digitalization?

 

Dr. Bahaa R.: The tissue industry has often been considered to be growing slowly amidst pressure facing producers that are “stuck in the middle”: pressure from suppliers with increased cost of raw materials, as well as pressure from the market concerning competitive pricing. The growing consensus about sustainable manufacturing and sustainable consumption isn’t helping producers neither.

 

Nevertheless, there is room for innovation that could bring more cost optimization and diversification to enter new markets. A new report of Mckinsey stated that by embracing digital technology, producers could reduce their cost by 15 percent. One of the examples used is “forestry monitoring using drones” and “remote mill automation” that carry remarkable opportunities to increase efficiency and reduce cost.

 

In addition, using big data analytics, predictive maintenance and computing technologies will also help the industry to better optimize its processes (we can now find several cases where industries started the Digital Twin technology). These can also help industries become more agile on the supply/demand curve, and improve their ability to create new business models.

We should not forget that there is also a tremendous opportunity for diversification. 

 

Sustainability concerns could have a positive impact on the industry and drive tissue companies to explore new business areas such as packaging, knowing that tissue causes significantly less environmental damage than plastic. This can be achieved either:

 

Does this mean that every employee in the tissue industry should become a digital expert?

 

Dr. Bahaa R.: Not Digital experts but maybe digital-friendly professionals; for sure the industry will need more IT engineers, more data analytics and of equal importance, re-educating the people involved in the production. But the transition could be very soft.

 

The only must is to have a management team with a clear vision of their digital transformation strategy, and ability to handle the everyday challenging (and often unexpected) plans.

 “Open Innovation” should also be considered as an essential step in digital transformation; companies have to build a complete digital innovation ecosystem where they collaborate with suppliers, partners, and customers. This will be more than essential.