| | October 20178CIOReviewThe evolving landscape of information technology is changing the business of appliance manufacturing. Industry has begun to shift its focus - we are no longer simply making and selling durable goods, but enabling digital consumer experiences. With this comes an increased demand on IT groups, making them an integral part of modern manufacturing. Whirlpool Corporation is on the forefront of this trend - as part of the "Internet of Things" - because our connected technology and digital experiences are now part of the customer experience. As an IT leader, my job is to create the right conditions for the team to help lead and enable this strategy. The Right Approach for Technological PartnershipWhirlpool Corporation is fortunate to collaborate with a rich band of solution-oriented partners equipped with digital capabilities. As one of the company's CIOs I keep in regular contact with our existing traditional partners, and try to keep pulse on new, emerging players in the sector. Smaller, new software providers, although sometimes short on the required scale, have proven time and again that they can come up with creative solutions to the hurdles we face. As the enterprise moves further into the digital arena, the need for different perspectives, agility, minimalism, experimentation, and more rapid implementation have become increasingly important. We have relationships with a diverse mix of providers - each serving a set purpose. The bigger software and service providers typically carry out larger technology projects, and the smaller groups aid in the process of experimentation and laying out the strategies for the future.Whirlpool's upcoming projects in the face of changing technologyAs CIO, you always need to look after the foundational systems that run the day-to-day business, and we have exciting work underway on the IT backbone for our operations. One of our most recent projects was taking our enterprise resource planning (ERP) to the cloud - and with our ERP environment largely handled by SAP, we now run SAP on HANA worldwide. Additionally, we are driving major transformations with our plants and warehouses, including new systems for Manufacturing Execution, warehouse management, supply chain planning, and logistics.We are rethinking how technology enables the digital consumer journey - how we present our brands on web and TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMING MANUFACTURINGBy Matt Meier, VP and CIO ­ North America, Whirlpool CorporationIN MY OPINION
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