I see these challenges as a huge opportunity. What matters most is consistently integrating employees and accompanying them along the way. Letting them take part in our success creates a link between high performance and having fun.
marcel ripoll, head of production, atmos mezintechnik gmbh & Co. KG
The greatest challenge is to keep calm and start out by designing processes to be as simple and lean as possible before they are digitized. If you’re dealing with an intersection where there is heavy traffic, you don’t immediately need a complex system to manage things: a roundabout is usually enough at first.
dr. christian hinsel, vice president, hirschvogel automotive group
Can you see ten years into the future? I can’t. But I can look back ten years — there were no smartphones, no iPads, practically no one in social networks. The industry in Germany was still number one, hands down. Nowadays, though, we are falling behind more and more every year. The power of monopolies in networks is incredible. The winner takes it all. I anticipate that the working world will change radically — and not just because of digitization, either: shifts in society and new forms of work and collaboration will play a part as well. This will create challenges for all of us. Having the right education and training is a major factor here. But what will that mean in the future? What demands will we have to fulfill? Which qualifications will we need?
jens adam, head of controlling, fischer panda gmbh
Industry 4.0 is growing more and more important for our company and offers us many opportunities, especially in the field of manufacturing. We make a fundamental distinction here between digital products for customers and internal solutions which provide support in production processes as well as facilitate generating KPIs. The goal is to find out what customers expect and how they benefit. We should keep in mind that digitization is not the only thing that has gained a new space for itself in companies: so has manual visualization (SFM).
dino brandt, head of assembly, seepex gmbh
Industry 4.0 and digitalization are a challenge for Germany, but above and beyond that, they are an even greater opportunity to remain competitive on the global market.
thomas holecek, manager, product digitalization, j. schmalz gmbh
