Industrial Process Discovery 101: The Why and How

Industry 4.0 introduced automation and digitization, and Industry 5.0 is making the machinery of manufacturing about the people again. This means corporations are changing their tune in a lot of ways, finding ways to integrate everything from robots and AI with social responsibility and sustainability. This is where process discovery could help industries find their most prominent oversights and mend gaps with improvements to greet the new age of manufacturing with gravitas.

What Is Process Discovery?

Process discovery is a conceptual plan requiring unique technologies. What does each facet entail?

Defined

Process discovery is a strategy, applicable to all industries but primarily useful in industry and manufacturing. It is an evaluation, analysis and critique of the current process with the hopes of fixing oversights and instilling widespread improvements. Typically, these are inspired by a company’s unique values and goals, whether self-generated or informed by stakeholders. 

At the end of process discovery, companies have a better understanding of why they perform the way they do based on an intimate knowledge of every human, mechanical and digital action, start to finish.

Components

This vague idea becomes more clear when identifying what leaders will need to start the analysis process. Process discovery usually begins with data collection technologies, such as enterprise resource planning systems or sensors from Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. Event logs are another helpful asset. Depending on what businesses decide to collect, the data will help create visualizations of trends and predictions.

These are called process maps. It illustrates how employees execute jobs, navigate the floors and report progress. Countless charts and diagrams are available to represent these ideas based on business needs. This will highlight bottlenecks and inefficiencies, like downtime and other time losses. Statistical methods are often employed at this point to make decisions about the maps.

The final components are optimization and feedback. Once manufacturers know what they need to fix, they must decide how to implement improvements. This could be as vague as changing workplace culture to more tangible actions like digital transformation. None of these tasks matter without monitoring and constant self-evaluation. Did the optimization attempts work? Are metrics in the green? If not, then perhaps leaders need to take a few steps back and identify which component led them astray.

Tools and Technologies

Much of process discovery is verbal and mental work, but it isn’t all cerebral. Here are some of the various tools industries use to make the plan more concrete:

• Processing miners: Visualizes data with programs like Celonis or Disco.
• Business process management software: Models business processes with programs like IBM BPM or Bizagi.
• Data analytics: Computes datasets with programs like Qlik and Tableau. 
• Simulations: Tests implementation scenarios with programs like AnyLogic and Arena.
• IoT devices: Collects information with tools like computer vision cameras or environmental sensors.

How Do You Execute Process Discovery?

Whether you are an employee or corporate stakeholder, these five steps summarize the bones of a process discovery implementation plan. Where do you start?

Step 1: Define Objectives and Scope

Are you trying to decarbonize, increase revenue or reduce absenteeism? Shareholders cannot do too much at once, or the results will muddle. Identifying goals and defining scope is critical for staying focused and reporting accountability. This also aligns priorities so quality assurance and deadlines remain consistent. 

Step 2: Data Collection

Install and use technologies targeted for the specific objective. Data scientists and cleaners are critical here for making sure integrity stays high and no redundancies produce anomalies. Data collection should happen over a long period of time to make the sample size more comprehensive.

Step 3: Process Mapping and Visualization

Make flow charts, diagrams, infographics and more representing the discovery from data gathering. This should include exceptions and special cases, too. 

Step 4: Analysis and Identification of Improvement Opportunities

Show this to teams across the business to gather diverse insights on what the numbers and images mean to them. This will start the brainstorming process for how meaningful implementation should occur and under what time frame.

Additionally, stakeholders must compare suggested opportunities against the values and goals in the process discovery plan. Does it seem like the identified improvements align with aspirational benchmarks and industrial best practices? 

Step 5: Implementation of Improvements and Monitoring

Then, it’s time to finally establish the changes across the facility. The action plan will likely be as lengthy as the process improvement plan alone. If you need to order technology, logistics, procurement and research are crucial. Then, companies need to train relevant staff on the changes by contextualizing why it’s happening. This helps inform usage and spread awareness on the corporation’s overall objective. 

Then, leaders must decide what KPIs will be the pillars behind future assessments. This may extend the process discovery initiative, reframe it, or lead to an entirely new one. Have appropriate expectations, because it may take several changes to get results.

Why Would You Go Through the Effort?

While this seems like a time-consuming and expensive endeavor, the outcomes are only positive. In summation, companies that stick it to the end bolster their foundations while becoming stable, authoritative figures in their niches. Discover which of these advantageous outcomes will motivate you to plunge into process discovery. 

The most wide-reaching benefit is improved efficiency and productivity. The plan may have revealed outdated robotic arms and untrained staff led to too many defects. Now, output is way up and deliverable timelines are closer than ever.

Process discovery also discovers what causes the most downtime. Frequent detractors include but at not limited to:

• Supply loss
• Planned maintenance
• Curtailment
• Staffing shortages
• Equipment and machine failure

This could lead to cost savings, smarter maintenance schedules, boosted quality control, and more.

However, what most industrial facilities want to hear about is the savings. Many process discovery initiatives feel debilitating, as costs rack up as you identify more chances to improve. When implemented correctly, the returns can be astounding. It saves money with smart utility and resource use, fewer safety incidents, and better market reputation leading to more clients. Then, scaling potential seems infinite.

Level Up With Process Discovery

Coasting with ballooning revenues is not enough anymore for manufacturers if they want to remain competitive and relevant. Consumers, whether corporate or individual, will not support agencies with low standards and don’t undergo professional development at scale. The advantages of creating a more equitable, sustainable and digitized outfit benefits companies, but it also improves societal expectations and structures surrounding commerce and industry.