Reverse Engineering the Smart Manufacturing Mindset

Written By: Amy Bryson, Contributing Lead Editor, SME

Conversations about digital transformation often focus on technology. Advancements in AI, software, the Internet of Things (IoT) and automation are supposed to, almost magically, transform legacy and manual processes into smarter, connected systems.

So how’s that working out? Not well, by many accounts.

Dozens of research reports detail the plague of pilot purgatory in digital transformation initiatives. Take, for example, the 2025 Smart Manufacturing and Operations Survey by Deloitte. A key finding revealed that while 98% of manufacturers have started a digital transformation project, the vast majority remain stuck in the pilot phase, unable to achieve scalable impact. A major culprit for this phenomenon is a lack of strategy that funnels investments of time and technology into an abyss.

Without a connection to the business, digital transformation remains a technology conversation. Enter Los Angeles-based CESMII – The Smart Manufacturing Institute.

For years, CESMII has been at the forefront of smart manufacturing. Founded in 2016 and one of 17 Manufacturing USA institutes, CESMII is an advocate for smart manufacturing. During the past several years, CESMII has created a comprehensive set of resources to help manufacturers adopt smart manufacturing processes. The institute also led efforts to standardize data modeling, developing the Smart Manufacturing Interoperability Platform and establishing three regional Smart Manufacturing Innovation Centers that serve as technology-demonstration and workforce-training centers.

CESMII’s latest effort is the Smart Manufacturing Acceleration Roadmap Framework that provides a blueprint for organizations to adopt a smart-manufacturing mindset not solely focused on, or led by, technology.

Change the Mindset, Change the Conversation

Changing the conversation requires a reverse engineering of thinking. “We’re starting at the wrong place,” says NxGen Group Co-Founder Jim Wetzel, who leads CESMII’s smart manufacturing roadmap process. “Digital transformation is about driving differential business outcomes.”

Wetzel says companies often start shopping for technology before they know what problem they’re trying to solve. “When we put technology in front of vision and strategy, we see pilot purgatory. One of the first things we work on in roadmapping is alignment,” Wetzel explains. “We don’t even talk about technology until we’re about 80% of the way through.”

Without vision, strategy and alignment, Wetzel asserts, everything is a roll of the dice, adding that 70% to 80% of all digital transformation projects are largely unsuccessful because of a lack of alignment across the organization. To address that pain point, the first step in the roadmap process is an assessment.

An online survey is sent to company stakeholders across the organization, from operations and maintenance to engineering and the C-suite. By crowdsourcing survey information, Wetzel says, it removes the narrow view of a few stakeholders who think everything is working wonderfully. The goal is to get as many voices and perspectives as possible, which can be as many as 500 at large organizations.

The survey addresses multiple themes and gains insights on opportunities, challenges, and where organizations are aligned and, as importantly, not aligned.

A dashboard of survey data collected during the first phase of the Smart Manufacturing Acceleration Roadmap Framework process demonstrates a company’s current vs. future state of smart manufacturing. (Provided by Visual Decisions Inc.)

From there, companies connect with a CESMII-certified roadmap professional to align on outcomes and the conditions that must be true to get there. During that meeting, participants are introduced to the Smart Manufacturing Acceleration Roadmap Framework, which is a strategic planning methodology designed to help manufacturers:

• Evaluate current capabilities
• Define desired business and operational outcomes
• Build a tailored and actionable roadmap to achieve those outcomes
• Align stakeholders across strategy, process, culture, technology and workforce

This first phase of engagement is conducted for free. If the company chooses to move on to Phase 2 of the process, a certified professional works with the company on a consultation fee based on the scope of the project. Phase 2 is focused on building the actual roadmap using the information gleaned from the initial engagement.

Planting a Stake in the Ground

Whether it’s a 10-person shop or a multibillion-dollar enterprise, Wetzel says many companies don’t have a defined “moonshot,” and they need to home in on the future state they want to create.

He cites Amazon as an example. Company leadership set a goal to have a satisfied customer in two days or less. They started with the business goal and worked through the process of how to get there. In 2005, Amazon launched its Amazon Prime membership program that addressed the two-day delivery goal. Technology was an enabler to meet the future outcome. But strategy and alignment drove the process.

This is one example Wetzel shares with students during the Smart Manufacturing Acceleration Roadmap Professional Certification course at Troy, N.Y.-based Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). During the course, students go through two use cases to understand a business, where the opportunities are, and how to get vision, strategy and value creation. Upon completion, participants get certified in the process and become a practitioner of the methodology.

Credit: CESMII – The Smart Manufacturing Institute

The online course was designed in collaboration with CESMII, RPI and NxGen Group. The first cohort of CESMII-certified smart manufacturing roadmap professionals completed the process in late 2024 and courses are scheduled throughout 2026. To date there are more than 100 certified professionals.

Serving the Underserved

Since its inception, CESMII has worked to democratize smart manufacturing for small and midsize manufacturers (SMMs) to help overcome barriers such as cost, technical complexity and lack of resources. The same focus on SMMs applies to the roadmap process.

“Manufacturing is a critical industry for our country, and I believe that SMMs are absolutely the key to that success,” says Tim Stuart, founder and president of Visual Decisions Inc. (Round Lake, Ill.). 

Stuart is an executive mentor at RPI and teaches the certification course. While Wetzel focuses on large companies, Stuart’s focus is on helping small and midsize manufacturers.

Stuart explains that most tech companies and systems integrators say it’s not worth their time to work with SMMs. “It is an underserved market where I can make a large difference. I make it my mission to work with them and help them move forward on solid ground.”

In addition to co-developing the curriculum and leading courses to certify other professionals, Stuart has led companies through the roadmap process and trained several manufacturing extension partnership (MEP) centers on the tool sets. An MEP in Maryland, for example, has taken local manufacturers through the survey and assessment process to set benchmarks for their current state of manufacturing.

Stuart also worked with numerous businesses and manufacturing groups in Cleveland, including the nonprofit Manufacturing Works that connects business leaders and industry experts with complementary resources to create a “healthy network that engages with the community to fuel economic growth in the region.”

Cleveland Steel Tool is a member of Manufacturing Works. Mark Dawson, president of Cleveland Steel Tool, says the roadmap process helped his company eliminate data and communication silos. “Projects across efficiency, IT and continuous improvement now connect through a single technology roadmap, improving collaboration and communication,” Dawson shares. “Our engineers have brought incredible energy and expertise to the process—they’re a big part of what’s made this so successful.”

That feedback speaks to the culture change and company alignment that Wetzel and Stuart emphasize is the foundation to any digital transformation strategy, and it is the focus of the roadmap initiative.

“What we’re trying to do with the roadmap process is tip the scales,” Wetzel says. “We can’t guarantee success, but can we tip the scales so we have a higher probability of success.”

Putting People First

The dangers of a technology-first conversation are evident. When people are put on the back burner, problems persist.

In January, Rootstock Software issued its 2026 State of Manufacturing Technology Survey. While responses reveal an industry working to make progress in digital transformation, roadblocks remain steep. Key challenges include:

• Resistance to change (24%)
• Lack of cross-departmental collaboration (31%)
• Lack of the right talent (33%)

The survey also found that 94% of manufacturers use some form of AI, which is making the execution of digital transformation initiatives more complicated.

“When we put technology in front of vision and strategy, we see pilot purgatory. “ – Jim Wetzel, NxGen Group

In terms of people, process and technology, Wetzel says only 7% of projects fail due to misaligned or inadequate technology. “Technology can’t deliver if you haven’t addressed change management, if you haven’t talked to people about how their job is going to be different, and if you haven’t trained people on how to use and adapt to technology. You’ve kind of thrown it to the wall and hope it sticks.”

The roadmap, on the other hand, is designed as a business transformation framework. It integrates smart manufacturing into the heart of organizational strategy and execution, focused on people, process and, yes, technology.

To learn more about the CESMII Smart Manufacturing Acceleration Roadmap Framework and get a free assessment, visit cesmii.org/education/roadmap-tools.

About CESMII