Manufacturing digital transformation: from shop floor to decisions.

Most manufacturing digital-transformation projects stall not for lack of technology, but because they start in the wrong place — usually a big-bang ERP replacement while the shop floor still runs on paper and spreadsheets. The webinar argues for the opposite order: digitize where value (and loss) actually occurs first, and only then unify the business functions above it.

The first part focuses on capture at the source: output, machine status (running/stopped/idle) and quality events are recorded right at the machine in real time, instead of being tallied from paper slips at the end of the shift. This change alone turns the once-invisible “micro-stops” into measurable data, and makes an honest OEE possible instead of a number that merely flatters the report.

The second part shows why putting MES and QMS on the same data layer is the pivotal step: when a defect can be traced back to the material batch, machine, shift and parameters without a separate spreadsheet, quality improvement shifts from a “month-end reconciliation” into a daily signal. The speaker uses a metalworking plant to illustrate a 90-day roadmap — 30 days to digitize one line, 30 days to connect quality, 30 days to extend into planning and inventory.

The final part answers the most common question: how to extend into the supply chain without breaking what already works. The principle is to unify only after the shop floor has clean data, so that planning, purchasing and inventory all read one real demand and one real capacity.

What we covered

• Digitize the shop floor first, unify the supply chain later — doing it in the reverse order is why many projects stall.
• Capture output, machine status and quality events at the source, in real time.
• Measure OEE from machine data to expose the invisible “micro-stops”, instead of writing it down by hand at end of shift.
• MES and QMS on one shared data layer → trace defects back to batch, machine and shift without a spreadsheet.
• A 90-day roadmap broken into milestones, avoiding a risky big-bang ERP replacement.
• Extend into planning, purchasing and inventory only after the shop-floor data is clean.