The Intelligent Factory: Navin Nathani on How Manufacturing’s Next Competitive Edge Is Being Built on Data, Resilience, and Industrial AI
Manufacturing has entered a new era of competition — one where the decisive advantage no longer lies on the shop floor alone, but in the speed and quality of decisions made across the entire enterprise.
For decades, industrial companies competed on scale, cost, and production capacity. Those advantages remain necessary, but they are no longer sufficient. Today, a raw material disruption, a cyber incident, or a sudden demand shift can ripple through operations in hours. The organisations that weather these pressures best are not simply the largest or most efficient — they are the most connected, the most informed, and the most adaptive.
The technology agenda in manufacturing is being rewritten accordingly. Cloud modernization, IT-OT convergence, AI-driven operational intelligence, and cyber resilience have moved from the periphery of the CIO’s agenda to its very center — not as infrastructure projects, but as the foundations of competitive strategy.
In this interview, Navin Nathani, a thought leader and a CIO at a leading manufacturing organisation shares how digital transformation is reshaping operations from the inside out: from ERP modernization that rebuilt trust across business teams, to AI applications that are quietly shifting manufacturing from reactive to predictive. The message is clear — technology is no longer a department within the business. It has become the operating system of the business itself.
Some edited excerpts:
What have been the key business drivers shaping your technology roadmap over the last few years?
The biggest shift I have seen is that manufacturing businesses no longer have the luxury of operating with delayed visibility especially during such critical times where geo-political tensions are at an all-time high.
A few years back, most decisions could wait for reports. Today, business teams want real time data insights & signals. Whether it is raw material volatility, supply chain disruption, customer demand changes or plant downtime, the leadership wants faster decisions, not post-mortem analysis after the issue has already impacted operations.
That has fundamentally changed the role of technology.
Our roadmap has therefore focused heavily on building connected operations where we are bringing plants, supply chain, finance and business teams onto a more integrated digital backbone.
Cloud modernisation, SAP transformation, cybersecurity & AI led manufacturing intelligence became priorities because the business needed resilience and agility, not just better infrastructure.
One thing I have learned in manufacturing is this, Technology projects succeed only when plant teams and business teams actually feel the need and want to see improvement in their daily work.
If a system becomes faster, but decision making remains slow, transformation has not really happened.
What are some of the most impactful digital transformation initiatives underway within your organisation?
One of the most impactful initiatives has been our SAP modernization and cloud transformation journey.
For manufacturing companies, ERP is not just a system, it is operational reality. Procurement, production, finance, inventory and dispatch all depend on it.
The migration helped us improve scalability, resilience and disaster recovery readiness significantly, but the bigger impact was operational confidence. Business teams today are far more comfortable embracing digital initiatives because they have seen stability improve firsthand.
Another major area has been cybersecurity strengthening across the organization.
Manufacturing companies today are increasingly vulnerable because plants are becoming more connected. Earlier, operational systems were isolated. Today, IT and OT environments are far more integrated, which creates both opportunity and risk.
We have therefore invested heavily in proactive monitoring, governance and resilience focused controls.
The biggest takeaway for me is this: Digital transformation becomes meaningful only when it quietly improves everyday business operations without employees constantly thinking about the technology behind it.
What are the most promising AI-led use cases you are seeing within manufacturing operations today?
The most practical AI use cases are the ones solving operational problems, not the ones creating excitement in presentations.
Predictive maintenance is one area where AI is becoming genuinely valuable. In manufacturing, even a few hours of unexpected downtime can have a cascading business impact leading to millions of dollars in losses. AI-led insights are helping teams identify patterns earlier and respond proactively thus extending the life of these critical assets thereby reducing the capex needs.
Another strong use case is intelligent supply & Demand planning with operational visibility. Manufacturing businesses generate enormous amounts of data every day, but historically a lot of it remained underutilised. AI is helping convert that data into usable decision support.
We are also seeing promise in:
Quality analysis
Knowledge assistance for employees
Faster root-cause identification
Cybersecurity monitoring
Intelligent document handling
One interesting shift is that employees are now more open to AI than before because they are beginning to see it as an assistant rather than a replacement.
But AI only works well when the underlying processes are disciplined. If the operational data is inconsistent, AI simply amplifies the confusion faster. Therefore, clean core and clean data is a strategic imperative in manufacturing.
Could you share a technology deployment that delivered stronger-than-expected outcomes?
Our SAP cloud modernization and transformation delivered stronger business impact than we initially expected.
The original objective was modernisation and scalability with seamless integration. But what stood out later was the cultural impact across teams.
Once employees experienced more stable systems, smoother access and improved collaboration, the resistance to digital initiatives reduced significantly.
That trust became extremely valuable.
In large organizations, people do not embrace transformation because of presentations. They embrace it when they experience fewer disruptions in their daily work and able to integrate data from multiple sources leveraging SAP.
One thing I have consistently observed is that successful technology deployments create momentum beyond the project itself. Once business teams see one initiative working well, they become more willing to experiment and innovate further.
Cybersecurity is becoming increasingly critical for manufacturing firms. How is your organization strengthening resilience across both IT and OT environments?
Manufacturing cybersecurity has changed dramatically over the last few years.
Earlier, cybersecurity discussions were largely centered around corporate IT systems. Today, the concern is much larger because operational technology environments are also becoming connected.
The challenge is that many plant systems were originally designed for uptime and continuity, not modern cybersecurity threats.
Our focus has therefore been on creating layered resilience across both IT and OT environments through:
Better access controls
Network segmentation
Vulnerability management
Endpoint visibility
Incident response preparedness
At the same time, we are working heavily on awareness because cybersecurity failures are rarely only technology failures.
In manufacturing, a cyber incident can impact production schedules, customer deliveries and operational continuity very quickly. That makes cyber resilience a business priority, not just an IT responsibility.
How important is IT-OT convergence within your organization’s long-term digital strategy?
IT-OT convergence is becoming essential for modern manufacturing.
Earlier, plant operations and enterprise technology largely operated independently. But real time manufacturing decisions today on critical KPI’s such as Yield, vibration, temperature, etc. rely on Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sensors and edge-computing require both worlds to work together continuously.
Without convergence, it becomes very difficult to achieve predictive operations, connected visibility or intelligent automation, all using secured communication layer.
But the bigger challenge is not technology integration, it is mindset integration.
Plant teams and IT teams often solve problems differently. One prioritizes uptime and continuity, while the other prioritises governance, scalability and security.
The organizations that will succeed are the ones that can bridge both perspectives instead of treating them as separate ecosystems.
Looking ahead, what does the next phase of digital manufacturing transformation look like for your organisation?
The next phase of manufacturing transformation will be far more intelligence led what is now called as Industrial AI.
Earlier, digitization focused on capturing transactions and automating workflows. The next phase is about creating faster and better operational decisions using connected data.
We are moving towards:
AI-assisted plant operations
Predictive supply chains
Connected manufacturing ecosystems
Cyber resilience by design
Industrial IoT expansion
Energy and sustainability intelligence
Digital copilots for operational teams
What excites me most is that manufacturing is finally becoming more proactive than reactive.
For years, businesses focused on responding faster after problems occurred. The future will increasingly focus on predicting and preventing disruptions before they impact operations.
That shift will define the next generation of manufacturing leadership.
Technology is no longer a department inside the business. It is the operating system of the business. The role of a CIO today is not to lead IT, it is to help the organization navigate uncertainty, scale confidently and continuously reinvent itself.
Manufacturing is entering a new era driven by AI, automation, industrial data, digital twins, and connected operations. To recognize the organizations leading this transformation, Express Computer presents the Intelligent Manufacturing 500—India’s definitive initiative spotlighting the country’s most progressive manufacturing enterprises and technology leaders. Learn more at Intelligent Manufacturing 500