Establishing Digital Transformation & Smart Factory Blueprint with EA

According to Gartner® Research (Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/enterprise-architecture-gateway-digital-takeaways-from-ascenci/), Enterprise Architecture is the “Gateway” for a successful Digital Transformation journey. Smart factory describes a highly digitalised and integrated environment where processes are improved through automation and self-optimisation. Using the right EA principles and fundamentals in developing a well-planned Digital Transformation & Smart Factory (DTSF) blueprint will provide clear direction for the repositioning and realignment of IT initiatives to current and future business needs. The EA will drive innovation and support continuous digital transformation with enterprise capabilities creation which are critical for manufacturing enterprises to realise Industry Revolution (IR 4.0).

The Digital EA will ensure that the vision and objectives of digitally connected enterprises can be realised through technology solutions which are effective (satisfying the right business requirements), efficient (with optimum resources), economical (with optimised cost and balance sheet) and have business value impact. An integrated and connected enterprise model is a crucial foundation for any enterprises in going through the Digital Transformation journey with IR 4.0 as there is an inter-dependency among various entities internally as well as externally.

Development, Analysis and Design
The following diagram depicts the methodology of DTSF Blueprint establishment based on Digital EA approach which covers Digital Strategy development method, Digital Enterprise Architecture Analysis and Design as well as DTSF Realisation Roadmap Plan creation:

Figure 1: Digital Transformation & Smart Factory Blueprint with EA

The need for integrated and digitally connected enterprises is why Digital EA plays a crucial role to assist enterprises better understand the various business dependencies and impacts such as capabilities, value streams and economics of their business. With Digital EA establishment, manufacturing enterprises can integrate various systems and technology to realise smart factory.

Digital EA can assist in specific and cautious planning to guide manufacturing enterprises in identifying the areas of business and technology opportunities which can be transformed digitally. This process involves all stakeholders to work together in taking the holistic approach to ensure that the business model is as resilient against disruption such as economy uncertainties, assessing the impact of change, designing and executing the transformation. To achieve this, through Digital Enterprise Map needs to be created with its metamodel which plays a critical role in executing digital transformation through the reflection of various enterprise layers in terms of motivation & strategy, business, application, technology and information layers to reflect interdependency, interrelation and interconnectivity amongst various entities.

Accelerate Digital Adoption through Digital Enterprise Map
The establishment of Digital Enterprise Map can facilitate and accelerate digital adoption towards Smart Factory as it provides the platform for understanding of interrelationships and interdependencies allowing total visibility and connectivity with full traceability and Impact Analysis as depicted in the following figure:

Figure 2: The Model of Digital Twin for Manufacturing Enterprises

With the digitally connected model realised by Digital EA, manufacturing enterprises will be able to perform various processes which are critical for business information and decision-making process by leveraging on adoption of IR 4.0 technologies, namely Big Data, Smart Devices, IoT, Robotic, Cloud Computing and Cyber Security. DTSF blueprint and implementation roadmap will realise smart-factory by adopting a flexible system which can be self-optimised and executed with minimal manual intervention and high reliability.

Author: Aaron Tan Dani
President of Singapore Computer Society EA-Chapter [email protected]
Founder and Chairman of Iasa Asia Pacific [email protected]
Chief Architect of ATD Solution [email protected]

Related websites:
Join the EA activities in Singapore and learn how you can implement Digital-Business-driven EA in your organisation.
Computer Society EA-Chapter: http://www.scs.org.sg/Chapter/ea-homepage

Learn more about ITABoK (IT Architecture Body of Knowledge) skillsets and about the roles, scopes and impacts of EA Specializations.
IASA: www.iasaglobal.org

Acquire successful Digital Transformation adoption with ATD Enterprise Architecture consulting and training services.
ATD Solution: www.atdsolution.com