From Consultants to Systems Integrators: How to Choose Partners Who Deliver

Is AI Finally the Silver Bullet for Performance Improvement?

Now you have researched your long established contacts and had a good look on Google to see what’s/who’s new….who might at last have that silver bullet so many have been looking for?

‘You had a look at TPM, OEE, Real Time Performance Improvement, IOTT, Digital Transformation and now AI’

They all promise a lot, some even deliver a lot, but there is often something missing.

Surely AI is now that silver bullet we have all been waiting for!

Well, other considerations come rapidly to the fore: Are you looking for a Consultant, or a Systems Integrator, or both?

Consultants: The Good, the Bad, and the Truly Helpful

Looking for a Consultant can be a risky business as there are so many ready to take your money as they ‘borrow your watch to tell you the time’, I realise this is a very well-worn cliché, but plenty of consultants are similar to many solicitors in that they are not interested in providing you with a reliable fix or a lasting solution. Their whole business strategy is dependent upon keeping YOU dependent. The good ones, however, will always work with you to do what’s necessary to make you independent and themselves redundant. They do exist, and we can provide names and introductions upon request.

The good ones will train your own teams in the new routines and procedures so well that when they leave site and their contract ends, the continuous improvement they helped you set in motion, continues and even begins to feel natural.

Systems Integrators: So Many Choices, So Little Clarity

Maybe you will decide that the Consultant route is too risky and you decide instead to continue your Google search to find a good Systems Integrator.  That’s when it starts to get even more complicated.  What do you use as your search heading? You might start with one of those mentioned earlier or something else, but you will almost certainly find hundreds of potential suppliers. Search for OEE and you’ll find thousands! Why so many players?   Basically, the easier the software, the more players. OEE alone, for example, is a very easy calculation taken, in its simplest form, from only three metrics, but because of the hype surrounding OEE, suppliers are keen to jump on the bandwagon, and potential buyers want to believe that the ‘Lowest Cost’ option will be just as effective as any other offering.

Then, when you decide upon a software suite, do you also choose integrated hardware or attempt to run the new software on existing hardware, alongside many other applications?

So many options! It shouldn’t be at all surprising, therefore, to learn that 75% of computerisation programmes fail or fail to achieve the benefits expected of them.

How to Improve Your Odds of Success

So, how do you increase your chances of success in your chosen options?

• Find Someone with a long track record of performance improvement, across the industry.
• Make sure they fully understand your application and can quote not only for your current needs but can scale up with you as your needs change (future proofing).
• Ensure that they have the capacity to train, mentor and support both the software and hardware that they supply in a timely and efficient manner.
• If they claim the system reports in real time but they are running on your own hardware, ask how this is possible, when you already have so many other applications running on your hardware (desktop).
• Ask how they will help you gain the necessary buy-in from your operational personnel and whether they have access to consultants skilled in the transference of knowledge and the cultural change usually required at all levels.
• If they claim the system caters for ‘paperless quality’ ask how they differentiate between Yes/No Qualitative questions and more sophisticated Quantitative questions that often have targets, control limits and action prompts.

The above questions are by no means exhaustive, but should help you to reduce the selection down to a worthy few, making your final selection much easier.  Most of all, be careful and on the look-out for any company who offers all of the above for an unrealistically low price.

A Final Thought

One thing to keep constantly in mind is ‘It doesn’t matter how much technology you are able to buy; far more important is, ‘how much technology will you effectively use?’

‘Our job is not to predict the future, but to make it less surprising’ Jeff Winter

“All we are doing is looking at the timeline, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing the timeline by reducing the non-value adding wastes” Taiichi Ohno, Toyota

At Harford, we have built our business during the past 58 years by helping many clients make the best choices to show the fastest Return on Investment (ROI). We have no doubt that we can help you achieve your objectives with less risk and the fastest ROI.

Harford Control… Your partner in Cost Effective Continuous Improvement.

Call 01225 764461 or contact info@harfordcontrol.com