The Forgotten Majority in Industrial Digitalization

Across the French industrial landscape, calls to digitalize keep multiplying. Programs like Boost French Fab highlight the urgency, especially after the Covid crisis exposed Europe’s heavy dependence on Asian manufacturing. Yet behind the push for transformation, a large part of the industrial ecosystem remains marginalized. SMEs and mid sized manufacturers carry most of the value chain, yet they face expectations that far exceed their available resources.

At C 981, we do not believe digital transformation is inherently expensive. It becomes expensive because today’s solutions are too complex. They require IT expertise that most factories do not have. They need multiple tools stitched together, constant integration work, and an ecosystem that becomes fragile and unmanageable. For most industrial companies, except the largest OEMs, this is simply not feasible.

Moving beyond monolithic, overbuilt solutions

Many existing tools promise to cover one hundred percent of an industrial company’s needs through long menus of features. In practice, they are heavy, rigid, and slow to adapt to real production environments.

We believe in the opposite model. A platform with a few essential capabilities is enough to cover eighty percent of the critical needs. Capture data. Share it. Use it. All of this quickly, without waiting for a long deployment or relying on an overloaded IT department.

The goal is not to digitalize everything. The goal is to digitalize effectively.

Bringing the frontline back into the digital conversation

Digital transformation will never succeed if it ignores the people who create real value. Operators. Supervisors. Technicians. They experience the daily issues, spot deviations, adapt processes, and make thousands of decisions each day.

Yet their digital experience is often nonexistent. Skill levels vary widely. Production pressures are constant. For digital adoption to work, the tools must be designed for the frontline, not for an external consultant or a distant steering committee.

When technology is intuitive, simple, and built for the people on the shop floor, data starts to flow naturally. Analysis becomes meaningful. Site leaders finally gain access to the insights they need to improve economic and environmental performance in a sustainable way.

A more human and more realistic model

Digitalization is not the goal. It is a tool. A tool to reduce waste, improve flow, cut errors, and make work more manageable. A tool to reconnect the shop floor and management. A tool to let collective intelligence emerge from the people who understand the process best.

This is what we advocate at C 981. A digital approach designed for the forgotten majority of industrial workers. Technology that adapts to the reality of the shop floor instead of forcing the shop floor to adapt to it.

And we would be glad to challenge this vision with you.