When Nicolette Naya started her internship at a leading luxury jewelry brand, she had no idea she would lead a digital transformation that would touch every employee and process in the company’s manufacturing operations. But that’s exactly what happened, as she shared on a recent episode of the Augmented Ops podcast.
Naya, who studied material science and engineering, was drawn to the opportunity to apply her knowledge to a centuries-old craft. “Jewelry making is the love and the passion of art, but also with the science and the precision that needs to be involved,” she explained. “If you think of a diamond, there’s many facets to a diamond, but without having science involved, it doesn’t become the beautiful product that it is.”
During her internship, Naya was involved in a pilot program to digitize the casting process, which involves melting precious metals like gold, platinum, and silver into the final product. By replacing manual, Excel-driven workflows with a digital solution, she and her team were able to start tracking variables, identifying defects, and solving complex data problems.
“We take gold, platinum and silver and melt it into the final product,” Naya said. “But we’ve taken that process from Excel, paper into this piece of technology that everyone can use.”
After finishing her degree, Naya returned to the company full-time with a vision for expanding the digital transformation across all of internal manufacturing. She became the driving force behind an ecosystem of applications that would capture the knowledge of skilled craftsmen while also driving efficiency and best practices.
To achieve this, Naya enlisted the help of “citizen developers” – process engineers, technicians, and supervisors who were trained to create applications themselves. “We needed all hands on deck,” she said. “I couldn’t just be me, it would have taken years.”
Through a structured governance model and a blend of centralized oversight and site-level involvement, Naya and her team have been able to make a significant impact on the business. Machinists now receive real-time feedback and analytics, and the company can quickly implement changes in response to new ideas and efficiency opportunities.
We can make changes overnight, quite literally. If someone comes up with an amazing idea and we will save 20 hours a week if we just have this simple tool, we can create that simple tool.
For the next generation of manufacturing professionals, Naya has some advice: take advantage of free resources like webinars and podcasts to learn about digital transformation, and don’t be afraid to think critically and innovatively. And for those in charge of hiring, she stresses the value of motivated individuals who can think outside the box – even if they don’t have a traditional computer science background.
Looking back on her journey so far, Naya is proud of what she and her team have accomplished. But she knows there’s still a long way to go. As she pursues her MBA with a focus on innovation, she remains committed to empowering others to drive digital transformation in manufacturing.
“I want to continue to grow in that sense, but also grow with the people that I’m working with and managing,” she said. “Take on more of an official management title and continue to grow and provide these tools to others and talk about the opportunities you can within the digital transformation space. Because we’ve started, but there’s a long way to go.”
With young leaders like Nicolette Naya at the helm, the future of luxury manufacturing looks brighter – and more digital – than ever.
