Adam Sharman, Senior Partner, Dsifer

Introduction

As organisations look for productivity gains, competitive advantages in agility scalability and sustainability, more and more are looking to technology to support, augment or accelerate their operations.

A recent report from Westpac identified that, whilst digital tech adoption is growing, New Zealand’s manufacturers have room to adopt these technologies and boost their productivity and the contribution of the manufacturing sector to New Zealand’s GDP.

Overview & Adoption

Through our work with manufactures in New Zealand and the UK, it is clear that, whilst most organisations understand the value and the imperative of digitisation, the roadmap to achieve it can be overwhelming.

A quick Google search can pull up examples like Ocado’s lights-out warehouses and it can be a seemingly impossible task to achieve that level of digitisation Most companies both globally and locally are grappling with the concept of Industry 4.0 and the value it could bring for them.

For these companies, questions such as What is Industry 4.0, and how can it benefit my company? Where should I start? What are my gaps today and where are the opportunities tomorrow? remain unanswered.

To help organisations start to unpick these questions, there are tools to help cut through the complexity and develop an industry 4.0 transformation plan that is specific to their business. In this article we will provide an overview of a tool that is gaining traction around the world. The Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI).

The Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI) Framework and an accompanying Assessment Matrix tool were therefore developed to help organisations assess their readiness and prioritise the highest impact interventions in industry 4.0 adoption.

The SIRI Framework covers the 3 core building blocks (Process, Technology, and Organisation) critical to achieving future-ready facilities, and the Assessment Matrix tool is designed to strike a balance between technical rigour and practical applicability.

The Assessment Matrix also defines the end states and the intermediate steps needed for continual improvement. Collectively, the SIRI Framework and Assessment Matrix tool aim to equip companies with practical knowledge about:

What Industry 4.0 is and the tangible benefits it could yield; The maturity levels of their organisations and facilities; and How they can improve in a targeted and incremental manner.

Today, SIRI has been adopted internationally by both multinational corporations and SMEs, with thousands of manufacturing companies across more than 30 different countries having completed the Official SIRI Assessment (OSA).

In 2020, the World Economic Forum announced a proposal to accelerate the adoption of SIRI as the international standard for Industry 4.0 benchmarking and transformation.

Framework Summary

The SIRI Framework consists of three layers. The topmost layer is made up of the three fundamental building blocks of Industry 4.0: Process, Technology, and Organisation. Underpinning the building blocks are eight pillars, which represent critical aspects that companies must focus on to become future-ready organisations.

The third and final layer comprises 16 dimensions that companies should reference when evaluating the current maturity levels of their facilities.

Organisations are assessed against each of the 16 SIRI dimensions by a certified SIRI assessor who works with organisations to build awareness about Industry 4.0 and collaboratively engage teams to understand and evaluate the organisation.

During the engagement, an expert in digital transformation within manufacturing spends 2-3 days with the organisation to:

1. Build awareness, understanding and alignment across the team on the latest Industry 4.0 and Advanced Manufacturing concepts
2. Assess the organisation’s readiness for Digital Transformation and identify quick wins
3. Benchmark the business globally and at an industry specific level, helping the organisation to understand how they can best compete.
4. Create a high-level Technology roadmap, built around proven change management practices to show the practical next steps for the business to take

New Zealand has adopted the SIRI assessment as a tool to support our manufacturing industry drive innovation and productivity through Industry 4. Through Callaghan Innovation, 200 manufacturers can access a free SIRI assessment with a certified assessor.

Organisations with under 150 employees can apply for this free assessment through Callaghan Innovation at Smart Factory Assessment: Industry 4.0 | Callaghan Innovation. Organisations with more 150 employees can also access the SIRI assessment by approach an assessment partner directly.

New Zealand business have been slower to take up Industry 4.0 opportunities and risk finding themselves at a growing competitive disadvantage as they could be consumed by more tech savvy competitors.

Tools like the Smart Industry Readiness Index provide the starting point and the roadmap support our businesses accelerate their productivity and stay ahead of the competition.