Ajit Kolhe

What succeeds, what fails, and where companies quietly burn money Let me start with a confession: If I had a dollar for every “smart factory” vendor presentation I’ve seen in the last decade, I’d have enough budget to actually finish a smart factory program. Manufacturing in 2026 is at an interesting point. We have more technology than ever — AI, IIoT, digital twins, real-time visibility, predictive everything — and yet many factories still run on a combination of tribal knowledge, WhatsApp groups, and a mighty spreadsheet called “Final_Plan_v23_FINAL(2).xlsx.” So this playbook is written for CIOs, CDOs, and digital leaders who are genuinely trying to move the needle — not impress their board with fancy jargon. It’s written from the lens of lived experience: factory floors that smell of cutting oil, planning meetings where no two numbers match, and multi-plant scheduling decisions that seem to depend entirely on which plant manager answered the phone first. If you’re looking for a polished, academic definition of Industry 4.0, there are brochures for that. This is a practical guide.