Why digital transformation can no longer be treated as an IT side project
Industrial leadership teams are under pressure from cost volatility, delivery commitments, energy constraints, and workforce shifts. In this context, digital transformation is not about buying software first. It is about building an execution system where operations, planning, quality, and finance share one operational truth and can react faster.
Global data confirms how urgent this is. The IEA reports that industry was directly responsible for 9.0 Gt CO2 in 2022, about one quarter of global energy-system CO2 emissions. The same tracking shows industry used 37% of global final energy use (166 EJ) in 2022. In other words, operational inefficiency has a direct cost, margin, and sustainability impact.
A practical roadmap for industrial organizations
1) Diagnose process and data friction
Start by mapping where your teams lose time: manual reconciliations, delayed exception handling, duplicate data entries, and disconnected reporting between shop floor and ERP. This phase should produce a baseline for lead time, schedule adherence, stock accuracy, and rework.
2) Prioritize 2-3 measurable use cases
Transformation programs fail when they try to digitize everything at once. A stronger pattern is to target high-value decisions first, such as roll allocation, production sequencing, and quality-event traceability.
3) Execute in short cycles
Deploy in 8-12 week increments with real users, real shifts, and measurable KPIs. Integrate ERP/BI capabilities early, but keep operational workflows central.
4) Scale what works
Codify standards, governance, and training once the first use cases prove value. Scaling should include role clarity, data ownership, and a structured continuous-improvement loop.
What figures leaders should track monthly
- Planning-to-execution latency (hours)
- Inventory and material traceability accuracy (%)
- Exception closure time (minutes/hours)
- Unplanned downtime and recovery time
- Waste and rework by product family
Why speed now matters more than before
AI and industrial software economics are changing quickly. Stanford HAI's 2025 AI Index reports that 78% of organizations used AI in 2024, up from 55% the previous year. It also reports a steep reduction in AI cost and access barriers, including major inference-cost declines. This means your competitors can operationalize decision support faster than in previous technology cycles.
Where CodeoLabs fits
At CodeoLabs, we run digital transformation as an execution program: consulting-first framing, operational process redesign, and implementation discipline. For corrugated and industrial operations, COROL complements this approach with execution-focused capabilities in traceability, planning alignment, and ERP-ready operational flows.
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Sources
- IEA - Industry Tracking (2023): 9.0 Gt CO2; 37% energy use; 166 EJ - https://www.iea.org/energy-system/industry
- Stanford HAI AI Index 2025: AI usage and investment trends - https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2025-ai-index-report