McKinsey picks Singapore to open Digital Capability Centre

McKinsey & Company has launched a global network of Digital Capability Centres (DCCs), with a key hub in Singapore for Southeast Asian companies. McKinsey’s Singapore DCC will help companies harness “the powerful emerging technological changes—known collectively as Industry 4.0—that are disrupting industries across the world”, said the company in a press statement.Five DCCs around the globe have been created to help companies meet the demands of Industry 4.0. The DCC network includes facilities in Aachen (Germany), Beijing, Chicago, Singapore and Venice (Italy). Each centre has been founded in partnership with a leading industry consortium, government organisation, or research institution.Industry 4.0 describes four broad disruptions—increasing data availability and interconnectivity; analytics and business-intelligence capabilities, including artificial intelligence; advanced human-machine interactions such as cobots (a collaborative robot that interacts with humans in the workplace); and advanced production methods such as 3-D and 4-D printing—that will transform the entire life cycle of a business’s product, from customer order to after-sales.“Disruption is now a daily reality for companies, yet today’s world of rapid technological change also presents opportunities for leaders,” said Dominic Barton, global managing partner, McKinsey & Company. “To realise the benefits of disruptive change, even the most successful organisations must continually reinvent themselves. McKinsey’s network of digital capability centres have been designed with this challenge in mind.”The DCC has been founded in partnership with the Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC).Features of a DCC include:■ Realistic production environment: The centres present examples of real enterprises that are moving toward Industry 4.0. In one case, DCC Singapore simulates a gearbox manufacturer with $2 billion in revenue and 8,000 employees.■ Digital showcases: Companies can explore over 20 themes related to Industry 4.0. One such showcase will be on predictive maintenance. McKinsey research has found that by using real-time data to predict and prevent breakdowns, companies can reduce downtime by 50%.■ Experiential capability building workshops: The DCCs offer one-day workshops targeted at senior executives, designed to build awareness of Industry 4.0, as well as multiday workshops that equip their mid-level managers with the skills to undertake digital transformations within their organisations.The Singapore facility is in line with the nation’s push to become a regional hub for advanced manufacturing. It is designed to be especially relevant to regionally-important sectors including discrete manufacturing, semiconductors, oil and gas, electric power, and mining.DCC Singapore is part of the McKinsey Innovation Campus, run in partnership with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). It has been set up in collaboration with the ARTC, a public-private collaboration between the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR), the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and industry partners to develop digital manufacturing and industrial design expertise for Asia. It is located at the Clean Tech Park in the Jurong Innovation District.DCC Singapore will officially open on 11 April 2017 with an initial offering of four learning themes—predictive maintenance, digitised performance management, digital procurement, and downstream supply chain—and phase in new offerings each quarter.