An unexpected error occurred: 
      

The Lean Mindset Applies to Digital Transformation

Emerson’s Corey Cronin explains why digital transformation is an extension of the principles manufacturers already use in continuous improvement.

Corey Cronin, Emerson's director of global business development for food & beverage and CPG industries, talks with CPG Next chief editor Stephanie Neil.
Corey Cronin, Emerson's director of global business development for food & beverage and CPG industries, talks with CPG Next chief editor Stephanie Neil.

CPG Next’s ChatCPG is a 10 minute (or less) chat with a subject matter expert on all things related to CPGs on a digital transformation journey. Here, we catch up with Corey Cronin, Emerson's director of global business development for the food & beverage and CPG industries, to understand why having a lean manufacturing foundation can benefit a digital transformation project in the plant.

What follows is a transcript of the discussion. Or, simply scroll down to watch the video chat!


Neil: Corey, when we met at PACK EXPO Las Vegas in September, we had a good discussion around what you're doing in your role as director of global business development, food and beverage at Emerson. And I'm just curious as to what you're seeing with the customers that you're meeting with, where they are—the the CPGs in particular—where they are in their digital transformation journey. Are they just starting?

Cronin: Well, I think you see a little bit of everything. You've always got leaders and laggers in that space. But I think most of them are, you know, from a transition perspective, a lot of them are dealing with legacy systems, not only from a controls and automation perspective, but also from a business systems perspective. And then, of course, when you talk about digital transformation, it's about data and getting data places. So then you get into network infrastructure and so forth there's a lot of work to do there. And, and there's a lot of understanding to gain in that space to get them to start making that movement.

So I'm seeing a lot of that. I mean, really, the transition to digital technologies has those obstacles and it requires certain resources to be able to understand what's a good path to take, what do I need to go after and so forth. So that's been probably some of the things that I've been seeing, you know, from issues. And our CPG group really taking the move going forward. They've got resource challenges. I mean, like everybody, how am I going to get this done with the workforce that I've got? It's a lot of new technology and new things to understand, so there's a learning gap there. And then building out that infrastructure can be complex, so you really have got to take an overall view of where do I start, how do I get started, so those are the kind of things that I've been hearing and seeing that are kind of slowing things down, I guess, a little bit in the CPG space. And we're all coming out of COVID and with that, there was a lot of supply chain issues and why enter into another thing right now that's going to cause, you know, maybe disruption with my facilities. I've got to get product out the door. So sometimes with those obstacles in place, it's been kind of slowing things down a bit.

Neil: So maybe starting with the basics is an important part of the journey. And one of the things that you said to me when we were chatting at PACK EXPO is the need to have lean manufacturing principles in place before you even begin. Can you explain that a little bit more? First of all, I'm sure any of the [CPGs] here are going to understand what lean manufacturing principles are, but maybe at a high level, [explain] what you're talking about and why you think that is so important to digital transformation.

Cronin: Yeah, sure. I think when you look at lean manufacturing principles and digital transformation, they complement each other. Very much so. You are combining lean's focus on waste reduction and process optimization with data driven insights to what's going on in your facility. So they're locked at the hip. They work together very well. And when you look at the tool list of lean, you know, things like kanban and value stream, it’s all about information enablement. And if I could get that information faster to make decisions quicker, it's going to have greater impact on improving my product, my product quality, possibly. It makes me more competitive and more profitable as well through that process.

        An unexpected error occurred: