adaptability

Smooth logistics management is fundamental for companies to function effectively. This is challenged by actor- and organization-related barriers in production planning and management. The Berufliche Hochschule Hamburg fosters the skills that individuals need to overcome obstacles in digitalized working environments. This concept is presented in the following article.

Digital transformation processes have a high tendency for delay, exceeding costs, and failure. This poses a significant risk in competitive global markets and shifting business models of entire industries. Successful companies have a different approach to new technologies than more traditional incumbents. Including the workforce in the transformation via change leadership in a digital transformation coaching process can reduce fear and resistance and can lead to a paradigm shift of approaching the digital transformation itself: as an agility driven, infinite game with high potential gain.

The contribution describes seven effects of cyber-physical systems (CPS) on production systems. These effects encompass the influence of CPS on adaptability, the intensified usage of more available factory data and the de-hierarcization of planning and control. Additionally a research approach is presented for investigating the effects of CPS on production systems using a controlled laboratory environment. The contribution ends with a description of further research questions.

The complex and dynamic worldwide logistic systems are marked by the heavy dependence between the participants. Through this, local developments (especially in the economic sector) can entail unforeseeable consequences on the entire network. Furthermore, cyclical fluctuations occur at increasingly brief intervals. In times of an inconstant economic situation, the challenge arises to design processes with such flexibility or to construct the entire system in such a way, that unforeseeable market fluctuations can be reacted to in the best possible manner and that the system does not collapse. Only this can ensure the long term international competitiveness.

The term adaptability is examined from different point of views in modern research. At the same time it can be noticed that adaptability is a more and more important key feature for companies, because of the fact that the ability to adapt is connected to the future development and positioning of a company. Consequently the reaction to a changing environment is an important aspect for companies to act successfully on a long-term basis. To ensure this long-term orientation a company has to analyze a large number of information. The Controlling body of a company plays a central role in getting and analyzing these information. It has also the general competence to retain, select and provide the available information of a company. First empirical surveys show how the controlling can be engaged to recognize and assess requirements of adaptability as early as possible.

Beginning with planning and control of traditional manufacturing systems and covering new goals of manufacturing strategy requirements like complexity management, adaptability and robustness are articulated. The paradigms of bionic, holonic and fractal systems seem to fulfill these requirements and allow the creation of new production systems.

Adaptability helps to process the necessary alignment between IT architecture and busuness world. The paper describes the concept of adaptability and declares when companies need adaptability and how it can be measured.

More than a fourth of German companies regard flexibility as their main competitive edge. Companies set great store by delivering customized solutions to the customer or to be able to deliver swiftly and on time. Thus the diffusion of organisational concepts which are suited to support adaptability of companies and to realise flexibility advan-tages is increasingly getting into the focus of attention. However, German industry has not yet fully exploited the potential these enablers might have on companies’ flexibility. The development of customized organisational concepts for improving the flexibility might help to further increase companies’ competitive edge.

For simple industrial identification in many cases the traditional barcode systems are more profitable than applying RFID technology. But functional advantages in decentral data handling open up cutting-edge application potential. Improvements in component interoperability enable the implementation of robust and adaptable PPC concepts.