CLOUD TECHNOLOGY ORBIT Technology is evolving at a rapid pace and industry needs to reconsider their approach to remain efficient and profitable. Modern firms are lacking in experts with the ability to combine technical skills and management capacity, a realisation that has only surfaced in the past 15 years. www.engineeringnews.co.nz 19 University of Auckland’s Dr Lincoln Wood has experience that ranges from the management side of maintenance to the specific, day-to-day aspects of production lines. In recent years, he became primarily involved with the service side of supply chains, and has witnessed newer challenges emerging, largely prompted by a widespread technological transition towards Cloud-based services. While this opens up innovative new opportunities for many industries, he suggests that, with more access to automation, comes greater complexity. It is undeniable that some organisations and industries will find the associated shifts in input and output expectations particularly challenging. For any industry, these shifts prompt the need to balance constant updates, and to embrace a fundamental evolution in habits and procedures. All of these take time, says Dr Wood, and most aspects of any production cycle involve natural replenishment. “If we had the full capacity to utilise fully automated vehicles tomorrow, for example, the country’s transportation infrastructure will remain largely the same, because we need five to 10 years to gradually move towards everyone being able to live in that preconceived future.” Cloud-based technology promises a multitude of advantages. Suppliers can retain responsibility for their outputs, and can refocus their time and knowledge to monitor and gather a wealth of hard data from every aspect of the supply chain. This translates into information that can be constantly analysed, reused, and reinterpreted as learning material. The resources are thus instantaneously accessible and shareable. Most industries are, however, already in the midst of facing modern challenges in a multitude of areas not considered pertinent before – beyond traditional issues such as health and safety. Companies now encounter questions surrounding sustainability, environmental impact, and data management; the latter being particularly relevant. Cloud-based management will see companies tackle increasingly complicated matters in data privacy – from data storage to access. As public legislation begins to address these governance issues, companies need to be prepared to work within new constraints. The challenges do not stop there. In his many conversations on maintaining the efficiency of a supply chain, Dr Wood concludes that the bulk of hard work does not involve technical solutions, producing cost-saving analysis, or making correlations between input and output levels. These are important factors, but he argues that a major solution comes from a managerial perspective, in that many industries do not generally possess the ideal capabilities. A common approach is to outsource this expertise – an offsite force to manage and monitor data and workers, however, does not guarantee management that is aligned to the firm’s own benefit. To Dr Wood, managing engineering firms can be particularly tricky – internal tensions exist in ensuring that the right capabilities are available to keep equipment and staff productive, while also considering new, increasingly costly resources. With more companies investing in advanced manufacturing methods, and seeking staff with the right technical skills, what is often forgotten is the value of relationship management. It should be no surprise that a manager’s people skills are paramount in a firm’s success. Close communication and positive stakeholder relationships can form a stronger basis for successful transactions and reduce the complexity of information flow. This is especially important in New Zealand, and in logistics, where the depth of required interpersonal connections are influenced by the small size of the industry. The current and future environments also reveal a paradigm shift in skills and resources. The evolution from manual to automated machines also means that engineers become necessarily skilled in more software adjacent areas. Engineering management thus will hybridise to encompass formerly disparate disciplines that include procurement, supply management, software management, and more. To tackle these issues, Dr Wood offers his expertise and experience in engineering management, which also extends to workshops at a postgraduate and industry level. Through theory, practise, and analysis, he sees that nothing exists in a vacuum – technology, human behaviours, and economics are all connected. NIMBLE MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT IN THE Dr Lincoln Wood
EN-Nov16
To see the actual publication please follow the link above