TJ Digital Systems explains how to adopt digital technologies at
Digital Manufacturing 2Day in ‘no fluff, no jargon’ speech
A preview of our upcoming session on October 13th — with three key steps towards digitalisation.
TJ Digital Systems will soon be delivering a speech about digital adoption at Coventry-based conference Digital Manufacturing 2Day — alongside our partner, digital manufacturing platform CONTACT Software.
The session will give guests actionable insights to take back to their workplace: ‘It’s a down-to-earth, no fluff, no jargon perspective of how to adopt digital technologies,’ our Managing Director, Tim explains.
We will explore how to unlock digitalisation by building a business case and making a roadmap for success. Below is a preview of the talk, with three foundational steps we believe are key to adopting digital technologies effectively.
1. Start with a clear roadmap
We strongly recommend starting your digitalisation journey with a clear roadmap — so making sure finance understands the return on investment, working out how delivery and training will happen, and sizing the solution for now, and for later.
This means you avoid buying something and then discovering whether or not it fits — an expensive trap that’s easy to fall into. Alina Wenzel, International Marketing Manager at CONTACT Software, sees the long-term cost of skipping this step.
‘When IT systems grow in a business, tools get plugged together into a portfolio of different systems, but they often don’t share the same database, so they can’t really work together,’ she explains. ‘The more the IT landscape grows, the harder it gets to bring everything together.’
Alina’s advice is to think further ahead from the start: ‘Avoid starting with one little thing without thinking about what it could mean in five to ten years. If you do a little bit here and a little bit there, with no clear concept, in the end it gets messy again.’
It’s essential to have a clear map that shows how you get from where you are now, to where you want to be, which is something we help clients with to avoid potential problems down the road.
2. Make small steps, not big leaps
We find that organisations delay digital adoption due to fear of failure. ‘Businesses often do nothing because they’re worried about doing the wrong thing,’ Tim observes. ‘But a controlled, iterative approach would let them learn without putting all their eggs in one basket.’
Maximilian Abenthum, Senior Solution Consultant at CONTACT Software, sees the same hesitation among the manufacturers he works with. ‘Too often you need the 120% solution before you actually start working, and that’s not the spirit of our time anymore,’ he says.
‘We need to start small, start fast, and then adapt and iterate. 80% is better than not starting at all.’ The trick, he adds, is to take smaller steps while keeping the big vision in mind.
3. Ensure your whole organisation is aligned
Projects go wrong when the head of finance, the managing director and the delivery team each picture a different cost, timeline or set of benefits. ‘The finance person might have thought, “We were only going to spend £50k”, but actually it was £50k this year, and then another 50, and another 50,’ says Tim.
Avoid misalignment by including everyone in the conversation, from the top floor to the shop floor. Often, product development and the shop floor are disconnected, and Alina points out that when something changes in product development, the people on the shop floor don’t always know, which leads to a high error rate.
We advocate bringing a broad cross section of an organisation together in one room, and mapping the pathways and financing together.
Why attend?
When you leave your usual working environment, you broaden your field of vision and learn from what has worked for other businesses, which you can apply back in your own domain. Tim puts it plainly: ‘Sometimes, you just don’t know what you don’t know.’
Other businesses may have more in common with yours than you’d expect, too. ‘A lot of customers assume that in their company, everything is different and only they do it this way,’ says Maximilian. ‘In the end, they all share the same pain points.’
The TJ Digital Systems and CONTACT Software teams will also have a booth where they will be running live demonstrations. ‘It’s a free “pick-your-brain” session rather than us trying to pitch,’ Tim adds.
We hope to see a broad range of people and roles in the audience — from decision-makers who aren’t sure what their next step is, to operators curious about how things could run more smoothly.
To sum up
We are looking forward to sharing our insights and learning more about how manufacturers are thinking about digitalisation right now. We’re also curious to see whether attitudes in the Midlands differ from what we see in Sheffield.
Most of all, though, we’re looking forward to making new connections and having some in-person conversations. ‘We’re not going to solve all your problems. That’s not what we’re about,’ adds Tim. ‘But you can trust us to guide, de-risk, offer advice, provide solutions, implement and test.’
If you are interested in digital adoption but can’t make it to the session, the team will be available at the TJ Digital Systems x CONTACT Software stand throughout the show.
Digital Manufacturing 2Day takes place on Tuesday, 13th October 2026 at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry and it’s free to attend — register for Digital Manufacturing 2Day here.