Kellanova's Journey Towards Industry 4.0

Emilio Anglés Isern is Industry 4.0 Development Lead at Kellanova, formerly known as the Kellogg Company, which is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, US. At MWC 2024, he spoke about their journey towards Industry 4.0

In a post on LinkedIn last year, he wrote:

After almost two years of experience as industry 4.0 development lead at Kellanova Manufacturing Valls I would like to reflect about Industry 4.0 in today's manufacturing and supply chain world, in my opinion it's more important than ever to have a clear and defined Industry 4.0 strategy. Unfortunately, in the absence of a industry 4.0 lead, or someone solely responsible for managing a company's 4.0 strategy, it can be easy to be enveloped in a scenario full of trendy technologies that makes it difficult to move forward.

This situation surrounds a company when there is no clear direction or ownership of the industry 4.0 strategy. 

It's a state of confusion caused by competing agendas, undefined digital jargon, siloed departments, and a lack of coordination between industry 4.0 initiatives between departments. This can make it difficult to prioritize initiatives, make decisions about technology investments, or even know where to start.

There are a few key consequences.

• It can lead to paralysis by analysis. As companies try to make sense of all the data and options available to them. 
• It can cause frustration and resentment among employees who feel like they're constantly being asked to do more with less. 
• it can lead to missed opportunities as companies fail to capitalize on new technologies or trends.

How you can clear it?

1. Appoint someone to be responsible for Industry 4.0 and give them the authority to make decisions and drive change across the organization. 
2. Break down digital silos by creating cross-functional teams that focus on specific parts of the customer journey leveraging inter-departmental data flow. 
3. Define and document a Industry 4.0 strategy that clearly explains the vision (what), the purpose (why), strategy (how), and tools the company will use to achieve business objectives.

The goals of Industry 4.0 include improved productivity, increase quality, increase speed, lower cost, and more agility. 

With the rise of agile methodologies and the capabilities brought about by Industry 4.0, there's a greater emphasis on flexibility, adaptability, and continuous improvement. While the trade-offs between scope, cost, and time still exist, modern tools and methodologies allow for more dynamic adjustments throughout a project's lifecycle. We must find innovative ways to navigate and balance them in a rapidly changing environment.

You can read the article and discussion on that here. His recent post discusses why 'Data is the crown jewel of companies'.

For limited time you can listen to Emilio's talk on MWC Barcelona page here (no registration required) and download his presentation from there as well. His video starts at 20:45.