Profitability

A powerful cross-organizational collaboration within the global value chain will continue to be a major competitive advantage in the future. The way supply chains are managed today will no longer be sufficient tomorrow. Blockchain technology makes it possible to technologically map intermediary functions without manifesting the market power of just one central platform (intermediary). On the basis of Blockchain-technology, trusting (data-) networks are created across company boundaries. The technology will not solve all operational problems; however, it may help to secure processes and simplify communication.

Many companies struggle to determine their own status and strategy when it comes to digitalization and self-organizing production. The Industry 4.0 Maturity Index offers a guideline in this process and helps to ensure future competitiveness. Using the multidimensional maturity model, companies can evaluate their status-quo and develop a roadmap to accelerate their digital development. The case study of a manufacturer of electrical connectivity solutions demonstrates how to reduce costs and increase productivity with the help of the Industry 4.0 Maturity Index.

After a delayed start, in the last years OT security has substantially caught up with IT security. Many technical IT security controls are also available for machines and plants. But the maturity distribution in the field of OT is more complex and fragmented, as shown in the present article. Certain fundamental issues and contradictions of IT security become particularly obvious here and might need to be solved within OT security.

The ever increasing volatility in market conditions push the requirements of industrial companies for operational intelligence far beyond the capabilities of common business intelligence solutions. An integrated and comprehensive software solution was missing. Enterprise Operational Intelligence (EOI) closes the gap. EOI focuses Big Data on company strategies and (strategy-)compliant value chains. This incorporates a structured approach for all data to deliver value, including manufacturing-related data, Internet of Things and real-time processing, somewhat analogous to computer tomography. EOI allows leaders and managers to continuously adjust business processes to keep them in line with business strategies. Operations can be adjusted to new realities rapidly and the consequences of interventions can be understood quickly and comprehensively.

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 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.

Industry 4.0 requires many efforts in terms of standardization. So far, small and medium-sized enterprises have scarcely been regarded in this context. This study presents empirical results from 225 SMEs regarding three contexts of standardization, inside the enterprise, interfaces with other enterprises and outside the enterprise. Differentiated for ten industry sectors, distinct characteristics and strategies for standardization regarding each industry sector are derived.

In the two previous issues (Industrie 4.0 Management 5/2016 and 6/2016) the features and characteristics of supply concepts, the fundamentals of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) concept as well as all supply related logistics processes, referring to specifics of the TCO concept and the ne-cessary and appropriate instruments for the evalu-ation as a basis for the selection of an optimal supply concept were explained. With the third and final part to the structuring of the methodology and an example for the practical application, a holistic view of this topic complex is available for the selection of effective and efficient supply concepts ranging from the theoretical basis to the practical application of the methodology.