Industry 4.0 has arrived, yet many manufacturers balk at the right point of entry for digital transformation. But not ODE SRL, Defond’s sister company that adopted Tulip Interfaces’ no-code manufacturing app. platform to democratize access to shop floor technology and boost productivity.
A recent simulation from McKinsey Global suggests that manufacturers who lead the way in AI adoption will increase their cash flow by 122 percent, while late adopters will see only a 10 percent increase. In light of this, the collaboration between Defond and Tulip takes on significant proportions.
Today, Tulip is considered a pioneer of the 4th Industrial Revolution by The World Economic Forum and has had praise heaped upon them by Gartner and IDC. But in 2017, Tulip was a recent MIT Media Lab spinout focused on getting a few early accounts and educating themselves in the market while building out their product. “We were fortunate to be picked up in the STEX25 program as a part of the first cohort of five,” says Erik Mirandette, Tulip’s Head of Customer Operations. "Many of our early customers, including ODE and Defond, came through introductions brokered by the Startup Exchange and ILP."
Many of our early customers, including ODE and Defond, came through introductions brokered by the Startup Exchange and ILP.
Defond, a top global supplier of switches, electronic modules, and sensors, was interested in bridging the gap between the automated and the manual. The goal was to boost process efficiency on their production line while retaining top talent and maximizing their competitive advantage.
“MIT ILP was instrumental in facilitating our collaboration with Tulip; taking the time to understand our needs and connecting us to the right startup with the right solution to our problem,” says Vincent Chu, CIO of Defond. “We appreciated Tulip’s bottom-up approach to digitization and felt they would be a great fit with our European brand, ODE.”
At its core, Tulip is a tool for the people on the shop floor, and the benefits filter upwards. It allows you to build apps for all your shop floor needs with intuitive visual development, meaning it’s all drag-and-drop, it connects to all of your machines, sensors, devices, and backend systems, and runs analytics.
"We democratize the ability to build very simple yet powerful custom software applications in response to specific problems on the shop floor," says Mirandette. "As the person responsible for making these operations profitable, you have much greater visibility into the source of your problems, the sources of costs, and how operationally efficient you are day-to-day.”
As the person responsible for making these operations profitable, you have much greater visibility into the source of your problems, the sources of costs, and how operationally efficient you are day-to-day.
The team at ODE immediately resonated with Defond’s set of tools. Based on a handful of use cases identified by Mirandette and Tulip, ODE’s leadership team was able to evaluate Tulip’s value proposition, and a deal was signed on-site during Tulip’s tour of ODE’s factory in Northern Italy. “We worked very closely with ODE. They’ve been up and running in a steady state with Tulip ever since—we have a great relationship,” says Mirandette.
According to Plant Manager Giorgio Panzeri, with Tulip's help, ODE has been able to reduce the percentage of rework on final products from 4 percent to less than 2 percent while increasing overall efficiency and production capacity.
The success has led to a trial deployment on Defond's main shop floor in China. Chu and his team have been pleasantly surprised by the volume of learning opportunities presented. "The project forced us to properly investigate the issue of time measurement within a production line, a topic that sounds straightforward, but quickly becomes complex. Gaining granular visibility into what is happening on the shop floor opens up tremendous opportunities,” says Chu.
"Defond is a very progressive organization," says Mirandette. "We see Defond as a trusted partner in a very big market. I think the element of trust is essential, and that began with the introduction through the Startup Exchange and ILP.”