Sustained growth via next-generation manufacturing and commerce

A global industrial technology leader is committed to creating a safer, sustainable, and connected future. It produces a broad selection of connectors and sensors for wide-ranging sectors including transportation, industrial applications, medical technology, data communication, and many others. Companies across the globe depend on its products to deliver services that are essential in our society.

The company has a history spanning many decades and an established formula for success. But creating products for a connected future requires a framework that fosters innovation, so it could no longer rely on the numerous legacy systems that propelled its growth in the past. It needed to transform to keep pace with this fast-changing world.

Realizing this required a comprehensive transformation, the technology leader partnered with Capgemini to launch a program that would revitalize the business and increase revenue by hundreds of millions of dollars over a five-year period.

A modernized framework for continued success

The modernization process began with a close alignment between the company’s CIO and CTO and Capgemini’s teams to identify pain points and use cases while working together to further develop the company’s strategy, architecture, planning, and governance. Together, the partners identified that organization’s existing IT environment no longer supported its strategic goals. In addition, the company and Capgemini decided to improve processes involving traceability, quality assurance (QA), and performance testing.

The framework also needed to be modernized to accelerate the adoption of core technologies that would enable innovation. Addressing these challenges would help the enterprise manufacture superior products and sell them both to businesses and consumers online.

Becoming futureproof with a next-generation framework

Capgemini’s ADMnext applied technologies such as IoT and tools like 3D CAD product Creo to elevate engineering processes and support strategy, architecture, and implementation. This provided greater visibility into the efficiency of manufacturing processes.

On the shop floor, this involved implementing execution systems with analytics capabilities to capture insights into traceability, testing, and QA for higher-quality outcomes. Automated testing tools, such as AIOps and DevOps, replaced manual efforts, which boosted productivity. These enhancements were substantial for a company manufacturing at high volumes; the overall effort impacted over 100,000 SKUs, 1.6 million active product parts, and 400 applications.

Improvements were also delivered across processes and business lines, such as a 15% boost in data rationalization and 26% increase in customer experience and insights. This enabled the business to better understand both current and prospective customers, making it easier to identify the products they want and differentiate the brand among competitors.

Commerce was another critical component. By bringing in Salesforce, a long-standing Capgemini partner, the partners embarked on a multi-year implementation journey to redefine the customer experience. The architecture and strategy integrated by our sales and marketing experts improved the online sales portal by facilitating sales at greater volumes.

All this made the overall framework more mature and scalable to help boost margins, unlock new streams of revenue, and drive consistent growth in the coming decades.

Accelerating productivity and innovation

Capgemini also worked with the technology company to prepare a Destination Innovation Office solution, which combines account expertise with application development and maintenance (ADM) services capabilities and Capgemini’s Applied Innovation Exchange (AIE) network. By including the AIE, the partners applied the best tools and a diverse ecosystem of experts, start-ups, and alliance partners to accelerate innovation.

This delivered several improvements. For example, the partners extended a community led by expert architects across the enterprise. This group shared ideas for improving productivity and eliminating process flaws, such as identifying where automated testing tools could be added into  factory floor operations.

The Destination Innovation Office also introduced the company to Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE), a live workshop for mutual alignment and architecting that allowed the partners to brainstorm ideas for impactful outcomes. This helped determine how to reduce operational expenditures and guided investments in technologies that support the company’s vision of engineering products for a connected future.

Capgemini’s ADMnext team also ensured the implementation of best practices and a repeatable model that could be used across the company and its global business lines. Improvement and innovation were required across all major functional areas, and delivery had to be agile and present a clear ROI.

A better future for the business and its customers

Capgemini helped the company transform its operations and capabilities on a large scale and realize its vision of next-generation manufacturing and commerce. The value delivered was substantial; $300 million over a five-year period was the projected increase in revenue from combining accelerated product introduction, sales on the revamped online portal, cost savings, and a reduced total cost of ownership.

The company could now benefit from an optimized investment portfolio focused on high value-add solutions. As a result, is now in a better position to innovate and realize its vision for the future – for itself and its customers. The business is also in a fruitful partnership with Capgemini for seven years, a journey that has yielded mutual growth and success.