Intel Digitally Transforms its Manufacturing Operations

The second annual ARC Industrial Digital Transformation Top 25 report continues to highlight companies that are succeeding at integrating digital technology into all areas of business, fundamentally changing the way they operate and deliver value to customers. This year’s Top 25 companies include many who made the list last year, together with some new companies. Positions were reshuffled due to the changing business dynamics and weighting components of the analysis: financial indicators, transformation indicators, and collective community intelligence. Intel digitally transforms its manufacturing operations and is ranked #3 in this year’s report.

The last few years have been particularly challenging ones for industrial growth. We’ve been cornered from all sides: pandemics, political unrest, climate change, and macroeconomic uncertainty. The world as we knew it a few years ago has capsized and the boundaries of the new normal are constantly shifting and realigning. Digital transformation is now an imperative and digital transformation leaders can be found across many different industries, sharing common traits and visions, helping organizations overcome complex challenges to innovate and stay agile. Several key trends were identified in this report: importance of sustainability, actively seeking to scale solutions in multiple dimensions, benefits of focus and prioritization, empowering the operational front line, recognition that culture change is required, and active outreach to others.

ARC Advisory Group defines digital transformation as: “The integration of digital technology into all areas of business, fundamentally changing the way companies operate and deliver value to customers. The organization is typically charged to innovate and improve across multiple dimensions such as: digital/disruptive technologies, culture and leadership, operational agility, workforce engagement, customer experience, environmental, social and governance, and competitive performance.”

This is the third in a series of blogs in the digital transformation space.

Intel

Intel, a global semiconductor company, combines technology, people, and culture to drive innovation and quality at the production line while ensuring sustainability and safety throughout the business process. Intel’s semiconductor manufacturing process runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Digitally transforming its manufacturing operations around connectivity and IoT have fundamentally changed the way Intel runs its day-to-day business – from the types of products and services produced to how they are delivered. While automation has been used for several decades inside the factories, real improvement and transformation has come from the deployment of widespread IoT and predictive analytics at scale, which have demonstrably decreased time to market, improved resource utilizations, increased yields, and reduced costs.

Intel focuses on connecting data insights directly with engineers who can focus on solving problems, with an emphasis on designing solutions instead of extracting data. Digital twin and simulations help optimize the factory output. Even though the company focuses on technology, it is an ecosystem play, not just one technology that delivers a full-blown solution. For Intel, it is the combination of the people, the culture and technology all together, that defines its digital transformation. Intel is also committed to corporate responsibility and sustainability throughout their entire business.

Road Ahead

Digital transformation is a continuous journey and ARC will continue its research in all areas related to digital transformation. We want to learn more about what is working – and what isn’t – as companies pursue their unique digital transformation activities. A lot is happening both on the supplier and user sides, and we would like to know about the pitfalls and success stories. The  ARC Industrial Digital Transformation Top 25 report will be published on an annual basis. With this being our second year, your feedback is very important to us as we will continue to investigate new approaches and measures to adjust our methodology, identify successful digital transformation initiatives, and help the industry as a whole digitally transform. We are on this journey together!