Manufacturers Are Facing a New Operating Reality
Manufacturers today are operating under unprecedented pressure. They are no longer optimizing for a single metric such as efficiency or cost. Instead, they must simultaneously manage:
- Uptime and production continuity
- Cybersecurity across increasingly connected environments
- Supply chain volatility and disruption
- Sustainability and ESG commitments
As highlighted by Johan Carstens, Head of Smart and Sustainable Manufacturing, Fujitsu North America, this challenge marks a fundamental shift in expectations:
“Manufacturers today are being asked to do the impossible… keep factories turning at peak uptime, secure increasingly connected IT and operational technology, respond to constant supply chain disruption and meet rising sustainability and ESG expectations all at once.”
This shift has redefined how performance is measured:
“Performance is no longer defined by efficiency alone… it is defined by end-to-end resilience.”
For CIOs, this represents a strategic pivot: manufacturing performance must now be understood across the entire value chain—not just the factory floor.
From Isolated Factories to Connected Industrial Ecosystems
One of the most significant structural shifts in manufacturing is the move from isolated environments to fully connected ecosystems.
Johan Carstens explains how factory operations have evolved in a relatively short period:
“Five years ago… operations were isolated… there was no external communication or access to these devices.”
Today, business demands have changed dramatically:
“We need to connect these factories… get data out of these factories… but that opens a whole risk for access from outside.”
This introduces a new equation:
- Connectivity drives visibility and responsiveness
- Connectivity also increases exposure and risk
Critically, this connectivity must extend beyond the factory. As both experts emphasize, transformation now includes suppliers, logistics partners, contractors, and distribution networks.
For CIOs, this reinforces a key idea:
A connected industrial ecosystem is not just digital—it is operational, extended, and interdependent.
The Critical Gap: IT/OT Convergence and Asset Visibility
A major barrier to achieving this connected ecosystem is the lack of true IT/OT visibility and integration.
As Johan Carstens points out, many manufacturers are still struggling with basic awareness:
“Most manufacturers… don’t have visibility of all their assets… if you don’t know what version [a system is], how can you protect it?”
This problem is especially acute in environments with legacy systems and fragmented infrastructure.
From the ServiceNow perspective, Ash Pujari, Head of Manufacturing, ServiceNow, highlights that visibility must go deeper than basic inventory:
“Credible visibility is not just knowing where your assets exist… you need to know firmware, ownership, and downstream and upstream impacts.”
In Asia-Pacific, the challenge is even more complex:
“You will have very diverse assets… some were never designed to be discovered… and next to it will be a robot with an IP address.”
For CIOs, the implication is clear:
Asset visibility is the foundation of security, resilience, and operational optimization. Without it, transformation cannot scale.
Security, Safety, and Operations Must Be Balanced in Real Time
Manufacturing environments differ from traditional IT environments in one critical way—they cannot simply be shut down when issues arise.
Johan Carstens underscores the stakes:
“You can’t stop a factory… if I lose control, it puts everyone’s lives at risk.”
The challenge is further complicated by how OT systems operate:
“Machine-to-machine communication… will go straight through traditional firewalls… it won’t get stopped.”
This creates a new reality:
- Security must be enforced
- Productivity must be maintained
- Safety must never be compromised
As a result, CIOs must shift toward:
- Real-time monitoring of operational systems
- Automated incident response
- Visibility into machine-level communications
The goal is not just cybersecurity—it is safe, continuous, and resilient operations at scale.
ServiceNow as the Operational Backbone: Workflows, AI, and Secure Operations
While technology enables connectivity, operational failure often stems from coordination breakdowns across teams.
As highlighted in the discussion:
“The failure is often not technology—but coordination.”
This is where ServiceNow plays a central role as an operational platform.
Ash Pujari describes the platform’s role succinctly:
“We combine AI workflows, data, and security… to drive business transformation across the entire value chain.”
This enables:
- Standardized workflows across IT, OT, and operations
- Faster and coordinated incident response
- End-to-end visibility across processes
The impact is measurable:
“Mean time to resolve OT incidents has come down between 20% to 40%… compliance reporting has come down from months to days.”
For CIOs, the takeaway is clear:
Resilience is achieved through orchestration—not isolated systems.
AI as the Engine of Resilience, Supply Chain Visibility, and ESG Integration
AI plays a critical role in enabling end-to-end resilience—but it must be applied in the right context.
From the Fujitsu perspective, Johan Carstens highlights AI’s role in linking production with supply chains:
“AI helps monitor production, connect suppliers, and adjust schedules automatically… ensuring factories continue running efficiently.”
However, he also cautions against overestimating its role:
“The misconception is that AI is a silver bullet… many AI projects fail because they are applied without understanding the environment.”
Ash Pujari adds a broader perspective on how AI evolves in manufacturing:
“We bring classical AI, generative AI, and agentic AI together… to improve efficiency, safety, and decision-making.”
At the same time, ESG is becoming operational, not just regulatory:
“It’s not just about reporting… it’s about building infrastructure that addresses efficiency, safety, sustainability, and revenue together.”
For CIOs, the insight is clear:
AI and ESG are no longer parallel initiatives—they are deeply integrated into operational performance.
Why a Joint Fujitsu + ServiceNow Approach Matters
Delivering resilient manufacturing outcomes requires more than technology—it requires coordinated execution across multiple domains.
Ash Pujari emphasizes the importance of partnership:
“We cannot bring that transformation to life without a Fujitsu partner… technology is just one part.”
Johan Carstens reinforces the complementary strengths:
“Fujitsu brings manufacturing expertise… ServiceNow brings visibility, orchestration, and automation… and it all fits together.”
Together, the combined approach enables:
- End-to-end visibility across manufacturing ecosystems
- Integrated incident response across teams
- Faster delivery of measurable outcomes
- Alignment of IT, OT, and business priorities
This reflects a broader industry reality:
Resilient manufacturing requires an ecosystem approach—not siloed tools or isolated transformation efforts.
Conclusion: The Future of Manufacturing Belongs to Resilient Enterprises
As the discussion highlights, the future of manufacturing will not be defined by efficiency alone.
It will be defined by the ability to:
- Sense disruptions in real time
- Make informed decisions quickly
- Act securely across complex ecosystems
As summarized in the session:
“The future belongs to organizations that can sense, decide, and act securely and at scale.”
For CIOs and enterprise leaders, the mandate is clear:
- Build end-to-end resilience across the value chain
- Invest in IT/OT convergence and asset visibility
- Embed AI and workflows into decision-making processes
- Integrate security, safety, and ESG as core operating principles
Ultimately, manufacturing competitiveness will no longer depend on isolated optimization.
It will depend on how securely, intelligently, and collaboratively organizations operate across the entire industrial ecosystem.
