Enpro’s Journey towards Human Driven Digital Transformation

Advancements in digital technology offer radically new ways of working that can improve efficiency, reduce downtime, and optimize manufacturing operations. However, the adoption of technology comes with its own set of challenges. One of the biggest challenges facing the manufacturing industry is a labor shortage.

A recent study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, found that up to 2.1 million US manufacturing jobs could go unfilled by 2030, costing the economy a whopping $1 trillion dollars annually.

Part of the problem is a 'skills mismatch'. On one hand, manufacturing workers are losing jobs to automation, even as manufacturers find it tough to hire enough people to do the work they need doing.

That’s why manufacturing organizations need to do more to upskill their existing workforce,
argues Hao Dinh, Vice President of Technology at Enpro Industries.

He says that upskilling workers is critical to ensuring the success of digital automation projects and address the shortage of labor that exists in the market.

“As we were driving these digital projects and reducing the need for manual work, we realized that we didn’t have enough people with the required digital skillset to do the new work we were developing. I wanted to turn it into a win where we provide digital upskilling for the people who would be affected when we automated the manual work,” he explains. “Companies struggle to hire because people don’t have the right skills, so why not upskill existing workers so they can transition into new jobs the company needs?"

Hao Dinh will be speaking at the upcoming Connected Worker Summit in Chicago later this year. In this interview, we spoke with him about the various challenges facing digital upskilling and the Connected Worker, and what industry leaders must consider when driving digital transformation initiatives. His advice on how to digitally upskill your existing workforce offers promising insights and solutions.

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: At the Connected Worker Chicago event, you’re going to be speaking about upskilling and the real reason digital initiatives fail. What got you interested in this topic?

Hao Dinh: Throughout my career I’ve been able to work on the latest and greatest technology. Usually the ROI (return on investment) on certain technology stems from automation since it requires fewer hours or fewer humans to do something, ultimately leading to a reduction in head count. It really bothered me that my job was to affect people’s livelihood.

As we were driving these digital projects and reducing the need for manual work, we realized that we didn’t have enough people with the required digital skillset to do the new work we were developing. I wanted to turn it into a win where we provide digital upskilling for the people who would be affected when we automated the manual work.

Companies struggle to hire because people don’t have the right skills, so why not upskill existing workers so they can transition into new jobs the company needs? I got interested in the topic because I wanted to make sure that when we deploy new technologies, we address the most important thing: making sure we have people that can use the technology and get the benefit of digitally upskilling our employees.

LISTEN: Building Resilience with Digital Transformation

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: Often when people hear about automation projects, they think they’re going to lose their jobs. It sounds like you’re addressing that. How do you go about upskilling people? Are there any approaches that you recommend?

Hao Dinh: There is no silver bullet, period.

I’m an Aspen Institute fellow - my fellowship is based on digital upskilling- and I’ve had a chance to work with a lot of Fortune 500 companies. With that experience, you realize that just because digital upskilling works for one company, it does not mean that it will work for yours.

People are people, and everyone is different. Some people learn by sitting in a classroom, some learn by getting their hands dirty, while some prefer a combination of the two.

Luckily, we’ve been able to develop a framework to get the conversation going.

When you say to someone, “here are some templates”, “here are some processes to identify the digital skill needed” or “here are a baseline of robotic skills”, it doesn’t mean that they’re now able to use your robots. But at least 60% of the task is done and then you can tweak the other 40% to make it tailored to your robot.

There are things that we’re working on across the board to drive more standardization around digital upskilling and helping people have a leg up compared to a “where do I start?” approach, as that is the scariest thing.

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: Where do you see a lot of companies go wrong with their digital transformation initiatives?

Hao Dinh: If you had asked me this 5 to 10 years ago, I would have said that technology is the most important piece to get right. But technology - whether artificial intelligence, robotics, or automation - has been around for a while. So, while the technology is not 100% mature, it is reasonably robust. Today, the reason digital projects fail is the human side of things.

We may have a great artificial intelligence solution, but we will not see the value if no one knows how to use it. Therefore, digital upskilling is essential to be successful these days. Technology has reached a point where the success factor will be at about 40% if you get it right. However, the people side is the hardest part. If you get that right, you have a 60% chance of success.

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: As a digital leader, what can leaders do to better drive digital initiatives?

Hao Dinh: When you work on a digital project, it’s important to involve the stakeholders who will be initially affected by the project. Encourage them to start using the technology. Often, after deploying the technology is when we think to train 90% of the people that need to use it.

However, by that time, leadership is already expecting a ROI even though it may take another month or two to properly train people on how to use the technology.

Therefore, what we are doing now is informing the stakeholders from day one about the technology and the skill sets required to reap its benefits, right when we start discussing any digital project. We focus on conducting a gap assessment, providing training, and engaging all the individuals who will be using the technology.

WATCH: How To Successfully Transition Through the Automation Journey

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: Do you find that workers are generally quite responsive to that approach, or do you still get pushback? If you do, how do you deal with that
pushback?

Hao Dinh: It depends! There are people out there whom we call digital natives, born with an iPhone in their hands. Then there’s people like me whom we call digital immigrants. I was born in an analog world, but now I need to migrate over to the digital world. We’ve learnt that in our factories, we have a combination of both, and hence we need to address both.

Our digital natives are going to embrace the technology, but they haven’t been in their role long enough to understand the process or have the tribal knowledge. On the flip side, the digital immigrants who have been working in a factory for 20-30 years, they know to build widgets day and night, but they’re scared of the technology. So, you need to figure out the right combination to get everyone on board, and one of the things we have learnt is that if you can pair up a digital native with a digital immigrant, it’s great! They work well together and can move the project forward.

There’s always going to be people who embrace change and those who don’t. So, you must figure out a way to get them on board early. Get them to become part of the process by asking how the technology is going to make their lives better. If you can make their lives better with technology, show them, train them, and get them used to it. Once they understand how it’s going to benefit them and not threaten their job, they will become advocates.

If it’s a case of laying people off and you don’t have an upskill opportunity, figure out a reskill opportunity for them. Look around the community and think about where else they can go to work.

This is what Starbucks and Amazon have done. They reskilled their employees whom they no longer had the need for in their company so they can go and find jobs in another company nearby. They work with them to provide the skills needed for that job.

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: Why do you think companies are becoming more interested in the Connected Worker concept right now?

Hao Dinh: It’s all because of COVID-19. When manufacturing companies had to operate with reduced staff because everyone had to be 6 feet apart, it accelerated the adoption of automation. Technology has matured at a much faster pace and organizations have shown that they can maintain production levels with fewer employees. Sometimes when your backs are against the wall, you become innovative and make the necessary changes.

LEARN: What is Connected Worker Technology?

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: It seems like labor shortages are an ongoing trend, would you like to elaborate on that?

Hao Dinh: It is a complex situation! The latest data I saw was that there are currently 4.5 million job openings in the manufacturing sector. And then, we also hear about people being laid off.

So, the reason why those who are laid off can’t fill the open positions is because the jobs being eliminated are no longer needed. And to secure the new opportunities, workers need to acquire new digital skills.

Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: From your experience in digital leadership, how have you put some of these concepts into action?

Hao Dinh: What you need is for senior leadership to understand that the old way of training didn’t work in our factories. Previously, we put people in classrooms and showed them how to make widgets and taught them to do the same task for eight hours a day.

Now, we’re not telling them to do the same task every day because software, robots and automation are producing different types of defects and challenges. We need someone to understand the overall process, interact with the technology, and improve the output rather than being the person creating that output.

We’re educating our senior leadership because technology changes so quickly and people learn in different ways. Digital natives don’t want to sit in a classroom for eight hours, while digital immigrants, by contrast, prefer a classroom setting. To create that balance, you will need some classroom time and some hands-on time, such as in a lab where workers can sit in front of that computer and do the work before it’s put into production.

Digital technology changes quickly and our new workforce requires more than one way to train people.

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Diana Davis, Oil and Gas IQ: What can we expect to see on the digital agenda in the coming years? Any predictions?

Hao Dinh: ChatGPT is already laying people off. Previously, digital upskilling used to be just for the blue-collar workforce, but now, white-collar employees are also being affected by digitization.

Take lawyers, for example: You used to need a bunch of lawyers to review documents, but now, you run the document through an AI engine and only need five lawyers to review the output instead of ten. Unfortunately, it is faster and more accurate than if it were coming from a human.

Technology is coming for both blue-collar and white-collar jobs, and the answer is upskilling.

Interested in learning more?

Hao Dinh will be speaking at The Connected Worker Summit in Chicago this November. Download the agenda and join over 300 technology and operational leaders for a cross-industry exploration of the challenges faced by digital manufacturers, and understand how they can better connect workers to the resources they need to do their work more effectively.