Process improvement has been my biggest drive, since I started my career in 1976, whether in engineering, sales, program management, consulting, manufacturing or logistics roles in a broad variety of industries.
Some of those companies I worked for were very traditional and a few of them were miles ahead of the rest of the industry.
Let me mention some major technology changes I was part of and changing the way of working in the business substantially.
The impact of new technologies on CHANGE
When I started as an apprentice Marine Engineer in 1976, I had the pleasure to sail on the first ship sailing under Dutch flag, having an ‘automated’ machine room.
The first time that sensors and software changed the life of an engineer: working from 9 to 5 in an automated Control Room.
Instead of doing 2 times a day 4 hours watches physically in the machine room, checking water and oil temperatures and pressures, simply by visual and physical ‘look and feel’.
New technologies changing jobs…
I remember well that I had my first laptop in 1986, working at an international independent Test Laboratory for micro-electronics.
Doing in the evening shop floor planning for the complex Incoming Inspection Testing process from home (using ISDN connection and a 5.25 inch floppy drive).
Also got the chance to work with the team on implementing a 100% paperless workflow system for the whole manufacturing process from Goods Receipts, Work Preparation, Planning, Shop Floor, Test Certification, up to Shipping.
After 35 years, I think that many of you would love to have it in place right now in your business domain.
New technologies changing processes…
I got to know about Business Process Design and Process Workflow Automation around 1996, when I worked at a Dutch ERP company and where I had the pleasure ánd the honor to be the Project Manager to implement the first ERP system at a customer by using Dynamic Enterprise Modeling. A Petrinet/workflow based application fully integrated with the Baan Software, based on the concepts of the Godfather of Process Mining, professor Wil van der Aalst.
A breaking new technology, to circumvent the need of manual programming ERP software, by just modeling it from a visualized business process flow.
ERP software was getting easier to implement for business people without needing in-depth IT skills.
New technologies changing the way how businesses perceive IT applications...
Some years later around 2002, I worked with some colleagues on another new technology: using raw data from the data base of the customer ERP system, to do a remote scan on how their business was running. It appeared to be very efficient and effective to get insight in business process, even before meeting the client and doing lengthy (and costly) interviews on the customer’s premises. This tool, baptized ‘One Point Diagnostics’ made it very clear to me: you need to have much more insights in how processes are done in practice, instead of looking into the most optimal way of designing them.
New technologies changing the way of analyzing processes on line instead of onsite.
More than 10 years later, I got to know about Process Mining and I knew in a split second: this is the essential part missing over the last decades, since IT Technology was introduced. So I started to take a look at typical use cases where it could be implemented and I just could not think of ANY process domain where it could NOT be used.
New technologies changing the way how supply chains are operating...
And that is where we are right now and I’m super exited about other new technologies coming up in the process analytics domain, and will follow those with high interests.
I have had many interaction with my peers at other multinationals, also piloting and implementing all sorts of process improvement methods, techniques and applications.
New technologies changing global networks...