Analog–Digital Transformation (ADX): Reframing Manufacturing Transformation in the Digital Era

This chapter introduces the concept of Analog–Digital Transformation (ADX) as a new framework for understanding manufacturing transformation in the digital era. While digital transformation (DX) has become a central theme in management practice and research, this chapter argues that focusing solely on digital technologies provides an incomplete explanation of how manufacturing firms achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Manufacturing performance depends not only on digital systems but also on analog organizational capabilities such as tacit knowledge, cross-functional coordination, and shop-floor problem-solving. Using the case of Nippon Paint Industrial Coatings, this chapter illustrates how successful transformation often begins with strengthening organizational collaboration and operational visibility before digital technologies are fully deployed. This chapter also highlights the risks of “cargo-cult digital transformation,” in which firms imitate digital technologies without understanding the organizational capabilities required to use them effectively. ADX is therefore proposed as a framework that integrates Analog Transformation (AX) and Digital Transformation (DX) as mutually reinforcing processes rather than sequential stages of change.