Can OI solve the impact of generational workforce changes?

Preparing for the mass introduction of millennials into the workforce, while managing the exit of baby boomers, is bringing about a fundamental shift in the way industry runs its operations.

Although there are always exceptions, traditionally boomers and millennials have vastly different behaviours in the workplace. With regard to information, boomers are less likely to share insights with colleagues and view information as less accessible. As digital natives, millennials believe sharing is inherent and data should always be at hand and readily available in a streamlined format. The two generations also differ in how they progress their career. Boomers are typically more loyal to an institution and have a desire for affiliation. Their younger counter parts want more flexibility in their career, are more likely to change roles every couple of years and have a desire to work with brands that make an impact on the world.

These differences in attitude and approach mean that, in the very near future, information will no longer be stored within a worker’s head and handed down to new employees as they join the business. Instead, new workers will expect to get all the data they require to execute their work effectively from the systems they are working with, and they will expect to get it quickly and easily — much like the information they get from a mobile device for social interactions.

To prepare for generational shifts, savvy organisations are adopting operational intelligence (OI) — data-driven, real-time analytics that provide visibility and insight into business operations. For example, using a SCADA system that supports OI ensures the transition between the generations is not volatile — and key information, operating knowledge and insights are not lost.

Achieving OI is important for any Australian organisation facing generational shifts, but first, a thorough understanding of the key strategies that feed in to the operational intelligence layer is vital. Workplace culture and processes are changing. Correctly harnessing technology and utilising performance information are key considerations for industry looking to stay in business.

Strategy one: Transform workplace processes

It is impossible to completely mitigate the impact of generational change, but transforming workplace processes can certainly help reduce the knock-on effect to business.

To do this, organisations are making the move to smart workers in smart plants. This tactic ensures the expertise of those in the field is not lost by embedding their knowledge into systems rather than individuals. This approach also means that any information that has been stored can be easily accessed and adopted by newer workers. Operating procedures can be standardised within the system, not only ensuring continual, safe production but also allowing ongoing optimisation. Workflow is systematised and integrated into the traditional control system.

Flexible operating teams

Our ageing population will also see a decline in the number of available workers over the new few decades, and combined with an ongoing need to keep operations lean, it will no longer be acceptable to employ 10 workers when one worker can do the job. Employees who were once specialised will now be multiskilled — another reason it is vital to ensure information and work processes are stored within systems so they are available quickly and as needed.

Centralised control, mobility and big data

As skills and experience become scarce, the introduction of centralised operations centres and virtual experts means that knowledge can be available across the enterprise, across multiple sites and across the globe. Jobs that were once required to be based on-site can now be done either remotely or at a central location leveraging the technology that is now widely available. This means a single worker can be utilised across several sites to complete the work needed across these sites from one central location. Supporting them, virtual experts can be anywhere across the globe also accessing the same information through the same technology and advising the worker to fix or improve production.

By centralising this type of work, it means that the data is centralised too, meaning companies can analyse the available big data and mine the big data to identify trends and inefficiencies — and to proactively optimise their process to improve revenue or margin by decreasing running costs. It also means businesses can more effectively control spending and budget allocations, because they have full visibility across several sites to target the highest return on investment. It may also be possible to ‘cookie cut’ the same solutions across the multiple sites.

Time to performance

Just as the workplace can be flexible, so should operating teams. Business, operations and plant floor personnel are finding new ways of working together that are unlocking new efficiencies.

With workers staying in roles for shorter time frames, the time it takes for them to get up to speed in an area needs to be greatly reduced. It is clear that learning needs to be embedded in technology so that as a transition occurs, training happens natively and quickly.

Another method for bringing new workers up to speed rapidly and efficiently is the use of simulated work environments. These allow workers to virtually walk through a site so they can become familiar with the layout. Simply knowing where a piece of equipment is can save hours of maintenance time. Different scenarios can also be run, so that workers have a better understanding of what to do during different abnormal process or even emergency situations such as equipment failure, fire or safety hazards. This type of training helps workers to react quickly and gives them confidence in their ability to deal with potential issues if they arise in the field. It provides more context for workers performing the roles, resulting in less room for error.

In particular, simulated work environments become more critical when working with offshore teams. Companies can use virtual workplaces to enable them to run their training and onboarding procedures in more centralised locations. This is more cost effective from a transportation point of view, as well as ensuring that work on a site is not interrupted.

By shifting the competency curve — by teaching workers skills earlier and faster — workers learn to embrace change more fluidly. This can also reduce training time, which further increases efficiencies. Within industry, this approach also enables organisations to empower frontline workers to take real-time action, as well as preparing them for an unpredictable tomorrow.

Strategy two: Correctly harnessing technology

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is rapidly transforming the industrial landscape but organisations are still getting their heads around how to properly leverage it. As smart devices become smaller and more powerful, we have access to vastly more data than ever before. By tapping into this data and adding context, this information is now available in operational intelligence systems as well. The infrastructure of our systems must be ‘big data ready’ to properly harness software technology and drive the optimisation big data allows us to target.

Monitoring technologies such as SCADA continue to serve as a platform for collecting data, monitoring and control, but also act in exchanging information between the control layer and operational layer of a business. This is typically achieved through a historian that connects the SCADA system to the information layer that drives OI. In doing so, these technologies also become a gateway to reach up through the application stack of an enterprise into the execution and operations layers of a business and feed into enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. For this reason vendors like Schneider Electric continue to heavily invest in the development of long-term solutions such as Citect.

Common across all industry is the importance of standardisation, which is a common way of collecting and viewing operational data for consistency of quality, processes and KPIs. With this fundamental approach in place, improved enterprise-wide decision-making is possible, be it capital expenditure, maintenance budget allocation, workforce planning and training.

By unifying automation applications for a fully integrated system, the foundations are in place for the next generation of operations management systems — unlocking production and process information for operational intelligence. This is the first step in preparation for the fundamental workplace changes caused by incoming millennials, with big data providing the opportunity for operational improvements via enterprise-wide visibility and analytics.

Those that take advantage of the opportunity of OI — to embed knowledge into their internal systems — are more likely to succeed in a rapidly transforming future. Strategies such as new work processes, utilising long-term and connected technologies such as CitectSCADA, and implanting smart performance information solutions are some of the best examples of how to achieve that competitive edge.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/paparazzit