Experts outlined how the shift to a fully digitized company needed flexible and strong management.

“Lean management requires lean culture, a strong will, and a highly efficient organization,” said McKinsey’s Forest Hou, who opened the Shanghai conference’s second day by presenting research suggesting most Chinese manufacturers are not yet ready for full digital automation. McKinsey surveyed 400 companies in China, the U.S., Germany and Japan, and found that companies in China showed the greatest confidence that they could achieve a smart manufacturing model. However, Hou warned that “the real readiness is a lot lower than the self-evaluated readiness.”

“I think around 60 percent of companies in China are still moving from 1.0 to 2.0, and there is a very weak base for lean management,” he told delegates, concluding that only around 30 percent of Chinese manufacturing companies were ready to move up the value chain from older models of manufacturing and consider smart manufacturing.

His conclusions were supported by data from Qi Wu, senior managing director of Accenture Great China, who outlined a survey of 174 companies by his firm that found only 4 percent could be categorized as pioneers in this field.

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