Many of the stories we publish in this magazine and on the MA Web site end up addressing cultural issues associated with the successful use of technology. Whether it is integrating plant floor systems with business systems, a new application to automate a specific business process, or implementing lean principles in an operation, many manufacturing companies find that people issues are the most important gating factors in achieving success.
One of the reasons for this is that technology often evolves faster than people can. New generations of ever more powerful microprocessors drive the relentless development of new hardware systems on which we can deploy equally fast-growing applications software. Software functionality has gotten so ahead of organizations' ability to use it that user groups in recent years have pressed for fewer new releases and versions.
In addition to putting a brake on the cost of frequent upgrades, companies are trying to better digest organizationally the systems they already have. Many tech vendors have responded favorably to this need even as they experiment with new ways to deliver functionality.
But there are other reasons that human factors slow things down. One of these is training. Successful system deployment requires up-front training, to be sure, but how many companies provide the kind of ongoing training that can optimize the use of the functionally rich systems we have today? The pressures of our 24/7 business environment, in which individuals and departments are shouldering multiple projects and tasks, surely makes a sustained focus on formal training difficult. However, the fact remains that most of the functionality in our systems isn't used, shortchanging the organization and complicating return on investments formulas.