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Technological changes related to Industry 4.0 generate new potentials. Hence, it is important to understand which dimensions of a business model to adapt. Industry 4.0 technologies enable a company to offer new products, new services or to achieve efficiency improvements. The Industry 4.0 business model decomposition allows visualising which goal the initiative has, what the value offering is and which processes, technologies and capabilities are needed. As connectivity is a key dimension of Industry 4.0, technologies and systems are needed to connect internal and external processes.

Recently, a great number of articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, and essays have been published, concerning the fourth industrial revolution or the internet of things. Unfortunately, extent and meaning of these terms become more and more unclear. Thus, a thorough understanding is necessary. Although a lot of studies are carried out to analyze potentials and threats of implementing respective elements into business, it is essential to compare expert’s perception with existing notions. In this work, both a quantitative analysis and a qualitative analysis were undertaken to identify several factors inhibiting or stimulating a further usage, by using a TOE framework. The results of both the survey and the interviews with several experts are explained in detail, and summed up into a statement of future prospects.

One ear on the phone while checking e-mails and revising a text at the same time - that’s life today in many offices all over the world. Constant digital change makes great demands of companies and their staff. People are expected to be available 24/7 while multi-tasking and coping with high noise levels in open-plan offices as well as dealing with constant disruptions in the work process. Together with working on-call or on-demand, these are just some of the challenges and tasks that have to be managed. How can staff continue to be efficient and productive despite all these and more changes to the working world? Are companies prepared for the demands of the digital age? Which adjustments will they have to make to protect staff from excessive demands on the one hand, while boosting efficiency and productivity on the other?

Digital transformation leaves only a few aspects of the relationship between customers and companies unaffected. This also applies to payment flows that stream between parties. Goods and services, which are fundamentally changing under the influence of the new technical possibilities, are also sold and bought differently. For the systematic search of new possibilities to monetarise own offers, the so-called Objects of Revenue are suitable. These are objects within the company, which are directly linked with or are able to be linked to payment flows.

The flexible licensing of machine features is a major enabler of new business models. New finance and leasing models can be generated by disruptive machine-as-a-service models with pay-per-use functionality. The more flexible the licensing becomes, the more essential is the business process automation of the licensing management system. To choose build or buy in such environments is not a question anymore. Vendors of professional license management platform are the right eco system partners for machine builders.

There is a variety of empirically validated methods for implementing pull-systems in the manufacturing industry, but pull-based replenishment for the process industry remains a research gap. This article describes the development of a model for implementing a pull-system for an intracompany production network in the process industry and its validation in a case company.

Companies have to be thoroughly agile. Agility means that companies must be able to consider two things at the same time: On the one hand, companies have to maintain the quality of their own products and services at all times. Continuous innovations could help with this. On the other hand, companies have to be able to adapt themselves to these permanent changes due to these innovations, whereby the adaptation speed must be as high as possible. The question arises as to what extent the cultural identity of nations play a role in terms of their mutability, flexibility and vitality.

Success factors that had long driven China’s economic boom have lost their legitimacy gradually. The emergence of the competitive indigenous technology houses in IT, telecommunications and software industries in the past two decades has made China’s industrial digitalisation feasible, which the nation would urgently need to base its further growth more on technology and innovation. Consequently, China’s economic performance would become more solid and sustainable. Internet+ predicts the general direction of digitalisation in China’s industries and represents the concept that is currently enthusiastically debated by the economists, politicians and in the media. The integration of information technology with other manufacturing industries is particularly emphasised in this context. The article examines the background and the terminology, takes a look at the market model and some technical issues of Internet+. A case study accompanies the “excursion” to China, in order to give ...

Due to the high competition on the world market, companies look for unique characteristics for their products. One opportunity is to establish a closer relationship to the customer by giving him the possibility to make last-minute change requests. This approach provides a possibility to discuss such a request at a great distance via Augmented Reality. The objective is to evaluate its feasibility and its costs on short notice and in cooperation with the customer.

Delivering industrial Product-Service Systems (IPSS) is a trend for companies in the german mechanical and plant engineering industry. IPSS are holistic problem solutions including an integrative combination of a physical core product and related services. Furthermore, IPSS are offered in customised business models. Due to the fourth industrial revolution, IPSS are transformed towards smart IPSS. Here, digital business models are necessary to take advantage of all opportunities belonging to smart IPSS. Therefore, a systematic analysis of digital business models for smart IPSS is presented.