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The digitalization is not only the basis of new business models, smart products and innovative services but also a source of uncertainty. This uncertainty about the economic benefits presents a major implementation barrier. To digitize the german production site until 2025 a reduction of risks is mandatory. The developed life cycle model of Industry 4.0 supply chain networks supports a transparent evaluation of risks. Findings show that there exists a gap between perceived and real risks. For a successful transformation, companies need to overcome those barriers.

The one-of-a-kind production often is characterized by a high share in manual work. Information gathering requires an essential percentage of the workers time. The article shows as Augmented Reality can help to reduce the efforts of information gathering and to increase productivity.

Due to high safety requirements of the aviation industry, the appraisal and documentation of all repair processes, including the final certification of the affected components play a central role. The documentation of all parts of the workflow including materials and machine process parameters as well as the obtained test results leads to inefficient processing times and high costs. To address this problem, Lufthansa Technik AG Hamburg launched the project “Installation of a plenum production” and illustrates how an extensive digitalization and automation of the underlying processes can lead to a reduction in processing time of up to 70%.

The digital transformation of business models plays a special role, because business models contain different elements, which can be digitally transformed. The complexity of production and logistics systems generates the demand for robust and error-resistant control options in the pursuit of corporate objectives. The control of production and logistics systems, especially, is often inadequately managed with methods of exact mathematical specifications alone. The objective of the following contribution is to define introduce a roadmap, including some examples for some instruments.

Due to an ongoing digitization of everyday life and fast changes in the business environment, enterprises face numerous external and internal challenges. In order to stay compe-titive, enterprises, especially SMEs require an effective use of information and communication technology (ICT) as well as a deep understanding of ICT in general and in digital innovation in particular. In this paper, we reveal the self-assessment of 24 companies regarding their own digitization level and ICT use as well as regarding further aspects, challenges and requirements regarding the complex topic of digitization.

Shaping intelligent production environments is one core element of Industry 4.0, but has progressed differently in the various branches. While concepts are well advanced in automotive, SMEs within textile industry still need assistance. As demands on individualization and responsiveness are increasing, a Smart Factory for textile SMEs must be designed. The futureTEX consortium therefor is working on shaping a textile Smart Factory and implements it prototypically by using demonstrators.