Embracing Technology for Change: How the Pandemic Transformed Barriers into Steps Leading to LEAN Operations

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22 Jul

Written By Verton

There are plenty of reports going around on the impact COVID has had on digital transformation in business. In a recent McKinsey report, respondents noted their companies jumped 3-5 years ahead in a matter of months on IT implementations.

Opportunity for Change

The reason for the IT investments ranged from remote working and collaboration tools to increased data security. While smart tech and IoT are nothing new, for some industries, embracing these changes before was a real barrier or considered low priority. COVID forced many to look at new ways of working, with fewer people on the ground and remotely – transforming barriers into priorities. This made IT investments not only possible but expediting them was crucial.

Without travel, businesses looked to gather data and access it, in near to real-time. This required new ways to deliver information to various teams to assist them to make decisions.

It's easy to understand why advanced technologies to assist in business decision making would be a leading IT solution companies invested in, according to a recent McKinsey report[1].

If you consider the traditional model of technology adoption, based on Everett Rogers book ‘Diffusion of Innovations”, embracing new technology looked like a bell curve. Over time, categories of end-users appear on the bell curve in stages of their adoption. Time is something very few companies found they had in Q1 of 2020.

Questions over the cost of the tech, reliance on other emerging tech for it to work and uncertainty of integration with existing systems used to further delay adoption for those on the Curve[2]. How inconvenient will the change be to their daily workload, and will it solve the issue?

Now take the urgency COVID created for Executives to make decisions and trust investments would be accepted (and fit for purpose) – they reported their companies embraced the technology investments 25x faster[3] than they thought was possible.

Executives may have underestimated their employees’ experiences outside of the office with disruptive technologies from smartphones to television/film streaming services, online shopping to problem solving through platforms such as Google, YouTube and Wikipedia. Influences also shifted away from what they hear from family/friends and colleagues to reviews of perfect strangers[4].

The unique environment of COVID made both personal and work experiences a global experience vs me. Everywhere they went outside of work was being affected, and their social networks had a shared experience of uncertainty. Was business assisted in their tech adoption by herd mentality[5] –group thinking for safety and security?

As their networks and environments shifted to needing to be safe, working with their organisations rather than against it, may have forced those who shifted those who found fault in new technology to adopters. The preservation of employment during the uncertainty goes without question as an influence if you have ever studied Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs[6] - hint look at Basic Needs.

A year and a half in, the ‘new norm’ has plenty of movement – it feels a bit like a step forward, a few backward and at times – hold.

So how do we continue to show the value of a further investment in smart technology and IoT for industry?

LEAN in for Change

The loss of time, the need to invest during uncertain times, and for many - resourcing under the microscope continues for many. Solutions are still needed and, often, required.

LEAN Principles begin to guide opportunities for advanced technology to further steps towards cost savings, efficiency, and improved operations.

1. Eliminate Waste

2. Build Quality In

3. Create Knowledge (document for the future)

4. Defer Commitment

5. Deliver Fast (Efficiency, turnaround must be sustainable in future)

6. Respect people (onboarding, project planning, process improvement, conflict resolution, and hiring)

7. Optimize the Whole (take stock of the full picture before making drastic changes)

Designed for Change

At Verton, we are on a mission to reinvent lifting operations to be safer, faster, and smarter. As we continue to launch new products and solutions, we have set out on a journey with our customers to further their goals in LEAN operations.

We have spent years introducing customers, across many industries, to our EVEREST Series of load orientation equipment to eliminate tag lines. We design for minimal interruption to operations while identifying and providing opportunities for improvements.

Here is our approach, applied to the 7 LEAN Principles.

First, we developed our orientation equipment using disruptive technology combined with traditional engineering - so we could get lifts completed faster and safer. Our EVEREST 6, SpinPod 7.5 and SpinPod 30 remove people from the drop zone by eliminating taglines. Using gyroscope technology, loads can orientate without human engagement and safety from a distance via our remote control.

LEAN Principles Achieved:

P1: Eliminate waste of time, unnecessary injury/fatalities, and cost of trickle-down occurring from 1 or a combination of the 2.
P2: Deliver Fast – from Mining Shutdowns to Precast Installations – our record proves the technology can get the job done faster and keep you on time or ahead of schedule
P6: Respect People – Minimal onboarding through clear training, eliminating preventable injury and death through repeatable and dangerous practices.

Next, our equipment can gather and transmit data and machine diagnostics from the lifting operations using smart tech and IoT. With 4G connectivity, this data transmits to our cloud-based IoT Dashboard.

Customers can access their data through unique logins where they discover data visualized, ensuring all levels of users can identify opportunities for change.

The data presents in live, daily or date comparison views for immediate identification of opportunities for improvement, benchmarking and improving accuracy in tendering and planning for jobs.

LEAN Principles Achieved:

P1 Eliminate Waste – who needs paper when you have Smart Tech doing all the work? We also use technology to deliver remote training for quicker onboarding of your team.

P2 Build Quality In – continuous improvement is at the core of our data capture providing the opportunity for situational analysis of each lift for true lift comparison and improvement now and into the future.

P3 Create Knowledge – We document every lift - both in data sets and visual with still and video available for improving processes and procedures.

P5 Deliver Fast – making a change today means access to your data and the Dashboard ensures you have this anywhere, anytime.

P6 Respect People – making the Dashboard user-friendly without complicated jargon.

P7 Optimize the Whole – see the full view of your operations with every lift captured and streaming video capabilities. With advanced technology we provide a full view of your lifting operations, empowering you with the data you need to make end-to-end improvements.

Our EVEREST 6, SpinPod 7.5, and SpinPod 30 provide an opportunity to reallocation resources with the removal of tag lines, increase efficiencies with hands-free load orientation and provide evidence of improvements with a review of data from the IoT Dashboard.