Integration project in digital transformation
Interview with Mathieu Rossell, Production Manager
In the industrial sector, integration plays a pivotal role in digital transformation. Far from being a simple technical step. Focus with Mathieu Rossell, Production Manager at Percall Group.
We often hear about “integration projects” in the industry. What does this term really mean?
An integration project is often perceived as implementing a COTS tool (Standard offtheshelf product). In reality, it’s much more than that. It consists in deploying an existing solution (such as a PLM) within an already structured industrial environment, one with its own processes, constraints, and history.
Unlike a development project, where everything is designed from scratch, integration requires making a standard solution coexist with a company’s specific business reality. And this coexistence is never immediate. Companies have deeply rooted ways of working, sometimes established over many years, that don’t always align with the logic of the solution.
Integration then becomes an exercise in mutual adaptation:
adapting the tool when necessary, but also evolving certain practices to leverage the standard. This is what makes such projects both complex and interesting.
How does an integration project actually unfold?
An integration project rarely starts with technology. It begins with a comprehensive phase focused on understanding business processes: manufactured products (for PLM/MES solutions), how teams work, what the workflows are, and which tools are already in place. We need to understand the existing ecosystem in order to adapt. This includes the software and solutions already in place, as well as the data that must be integrated so everything can be properly interfaced.
From there, the project enters a phase of alignment between:
- the solution’s capabilities
- and the business process
This phase is lead by COTS (Standard offtheshelf product) convergence approach.
This is where key structural decisions are made. The priority is to rely on the tool’s standard features to avoid heavy and costly custom developments. But there are always gaps. Some processes simply “don’t fit into the boxes.”
You then have to constantly arbitrate:
how far should the solution be adapted, and how far should business practices evolve?
Once these decisions are made, the project moves into a more operational phase with definition of use cases, solution configuration/implementation, and deployment which may involve multiple plants and countries.
What role does the technical dimension play in integration?
It is central, but it is only one part of the equation.
A solution such as a PLM system never operates on its own. It must integrate with an existing application ecosystem (ERP, MES, design tools, etc.).
One of the major challenges is therefore to design and implement the interconnections between these systems. This involves defining:
- the modes of exchange
- data formats
- and the rules governing data flows
This is often the most technical part of the project, especially when dealing with complex cases such as data migration or synchronization, error handling, or flow recovery.
What are the main challenges of an integration project?
The main challenge lies in finding the right balance between IT constraints and business expectations.
IT teams generally try to minimize specific developments to ensure system robustness and maintainability. On the other hand, business teams want to preserve their ways of working, often built over years.The project then becomes a space of arbitration. Strong governance is key to maintaining the target.
Another reality adds to this: an integration project almost always carries a transformation dimension, even if it’s not formally presented as such. Introducing a new solution inevitably leads to evolving certain practices, sometimes significantly.
Ultimately, an integration project can be summed up as a continuous balancing act between standard and custom, between technology and business, between the current state and the target state.
And this very complexity is what makes it valuable.