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Engineers play an important role in integrating old systems into the digital environment of modern enterprises. In the new era, enterprises are booming due to artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), big data analysis, robot process automation (RPA) and other technologies. In order to optimize these technologies, enterprises need to thoroughly review their operations, or intelligently transform existing devices to meet business needs. This makes strategy making a very important part of digital transformation.

Overhaul is not only expensive, but also may destroy the continuity of production. Therefore, enterprises usually choose the latter method and gradually realize the transition of the old system while paying close attention to the life cycle

The process of industrialization

In the past few centuries, industrialization has undergone a variety of significant and sufficient changes to shape the future. From rapid mechanization to electrification to seamless application of information technology (it), the first three stages of industrialization have brought rapid development to manufacturing enterprises. With the coming of the fourth industrial revolution (usually called industry 4.0), more and more manufacturing enterprises begin to feel the urgent need to realize digital transformation.

The gradual deepening of digital transformation, coupled with the development of Internet of things (IOT) and high-speed and low delay connectivity, will bring new opportunities for the future development of industry.

With the digital becoming the focus, the driving force and scope of engineering solutions are expanding. Industry 4.0 is rising in the world, and the prospect of engineering service is broad. By 2023, the market size is expected to be $21.7 billion, higher than $7.7 billion in 2018. The rapid development of engineering applications and solutions will promote the market to grow nearly three times, and the composite annual growth rate between 2018 and 2023 will reach 23.1%.

Industry 4.0 is the behind the scenes of the growth of demand for modern engineering. It is reported that 91% of enterprises are striving to achieve digital transformation, which is crucial for their survival and prosperity in this era.

In the process of digital transformation, one of the main challenges faced by manufacturing enterprises is the integration of old systems. It is important to be brave in facing challenges, finding opportunities in each challenge, and traditional systems are no exception.

From old systems to intelligent systems

Because the old system does not have the function required by intelligent process, the implementation of engineering application is very important. The use of sensors is very important for making full use of old systems and integrating them into digital ecosystems. Given the importance of data and real-time analysis, these sensors help provide important information about performance, productivity and the health of older machines.

In intelligent mode that relies on multiple devices for instant communication, sensors provide visibility to all stakeholders at any given time. Real time insight from sensor data can also achieve autonomous and intelligent decision-making. Because of these intelligent engineering applications, the old system can be predictive maintenance based on health diagnosis.

Collaboration with smart machines

Mature technology lays the foundation for the digital transformation of operation, while emerging technologies are accelerating the process, in order to digitize large-scale operation. Intelligent machine drives the rapid development of digital transformation. These intelligent machines can reduce the dependence on human intervention and get rid of the disadvantages of traditional heavy machines. Based on this effort, the ambition of a cooperative and agile future work will flourish under the action of human-machine cooperation, and the new era and future oriented engineering application will become the key driving force.

Preparing old systems for the future depends on key decisions. First, a thorough understanding of requirements will determine the right digital strategy. Since business plans rely on digital strategies, it is important to align them with short, medium and long-term goals. Once the strategy is in place, the correct engineering application will determine the success of the whole digital transformation experience.

Scale of digital transformation

Digital transformation plans in all walks of life show that the scale of transformation cannot be cut at all. Instead, specific plans must be developed for each project. For example, ERP systems can help integrate machines and processes, but they are not options for long-term, future oriented changes.

Companies that are doing digital transformation often entrust it teams with the responsibility of writing, testing, and deploying internal integration solutions, but sometimes the result is that they are paying more than they can afford. Despite the bravery of making such decisions, the costs, time and risks they pay often make them question whether it is worth doing so. The implementation of the project in a hurry is of great harm and is likely to cause the project to die.

One of the important aspects of successful digital transformation is to ensure that small quantities of changes can be made in time. Data plays a crucial role in aligning each element of the process. Therefore, it is important for any enterprise to create a robust and complete database to collect data from each terminal.

In the digital environment full of intelligent equipment, every data collected by engineering applications from various ERP, CRM, PLM and SCM systems is very important. This approach will choose gradual change without putting great pressure on it or operational technology (OT).

Agile automation and human-machine cooperation

In order to make manufacturing process more agile, human beings must also play a crucial role. Radical change is bound to cause resistance, especially when machines tend to become more autonomous. But it is important that the leadership of the enterprise take responsibility to make employees understand the purpose of digitization and how to benefit all. In essence, digital transformation is not only about the future development of enterprises, but also about creating more beautiful experiences for human life.

Digital transformation makes machines more intelligent, and enables people to focus on more critical and forward-looking work, thus arousing more potential. Efficient human-computer collaboration is very important for the determination of task scope and digital transformation, which will help to improve the overall production efficiency of the whole enterprise.