digital transformation

The past few years have shown that Digitization is not just a fad of the millennium, but rather the next inevitable step in technological evolution. It was and is a development that affects everything and everyone, both socially and industrially. But digital transformation requires more than just the conversion of individual processes in the company or the introduction of new technologies. Above all, it requires sustained agility in development and production, as well as ongoing employee training in order to be able to meet this demand for agility as a company.

In times of digital transformation, it is important to counteract the associated challenges in the work world. This requires resilience and flexibility on the part of employees. Resilience has a positive effect on the health and performance of individuals. Therefore, organizations should support their employees in developing a positive attitude towards the unknown and increasing complexity, aspects that are often associated with new technologies. In this article, two exemplary corporate actions for organizational development aiming to strengthen the resilience of employees are explained.

We are currently experiencing rapid transformation in technologies and society. Due to the convergence of various megatrends, these changes have considerable impacts on everyday life. Our study aims to identify relevant strategies for the digital future of a macro-region (Tyrol, South Tyrol and Veneto). The study conducts semi-structured interviews with representatives of companies, universities and local governments, using the approach of a triple helix model. Based on the empirical analysis, we develop an action plan for the digital transformation of the macro-region.

Digitalen Plattformen im Kontext von Industrie 4.0 werden zahlreiche Potenziale zugeschrieben. Allerdings birgt deren Implementierung und Nutzung einige Herausforderungen, insbesondere für kleine und mittlere Unternehmen. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Herausforderungen durch digitale Plattformen mithilfe von qualitativ-empirischen Interviews von 83 Experten aus mittelständischen deutschen Industrieunternehmen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass unter anderem Herausforderungen in Bezug auf Vertrauen, Konkurrenzdenken und Koordinationsaufwand existieren. Aus den Ergebnissen können strategische Handlungsempfehlungen abgeleitet werden, wie mittelständische Unternehmen den Herausforderungen begegnen können, um die Potenziale von digitalen Plattformen zu heben.

The digital interactions along the value chain pose new challenges for managing information and knowledge. The objectives of this article are to describe the changes in knowledge-based value creation induced by digitalisation and to derive fields of action for knowledge management for Industry 4.0. The “knowledge ladder 4.0” shows how digital technologies can transform strategic and operative knowledge management. Subsequently, we offer a framework for the knowledge-oriented design of dynamic digital organisations that consists of three layers of activities for the operation, reflection and design of knowledge management illustrated with leading questions and case examples in order to promote the productive, responsible and sustainable usage of digital technologies.

The application of digital work assistance systems is gaining practical relevance on the shopfloor. Experience shows that the use of a work assistance system orients itself on the individual capabilities of its user and the specific work requirements. This excludes standard solutions. To order the variety of assistive functions in an application context, the assistance systems are classified in the present article. It also discusses the design requirements and applications use from an ergonomic perspective, which places the working man and his individual capabilities, which vary during working life, at the center of consideration. The reader can better assess the potential benefits and application limits of digital work assistance systems in an operational context.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) radically changes value creation in the manufacturing industry. Dynamic environmental factors, technical complexity, and limited resources cause many companies to be left behind. As a principle borrowed from strategic planning, business ecosystems can provide new ways of interorganizational collaboration and thus dynamize efforts to internalize specific IIoT knowledge. Especially in an early phase of trend scouting and idea generation, ecosystems can be seen as a highly effective venturing concept.

Industry 4.0 forces companies to keep their business models up-to-date to keep their competitiveness and to satisfy customer demands. Key words like “individual production” and “lot size one” put pressure on companies to adapt their current production to the new requirements. Especially for companies with a mass production this sounds like a 180° turn. Furthermore, no best-practices for introducing industry 4.0 exist and therefore, one cannot rely on such hold points. Nevertheless, a structured transformation of the own business model towards industry is not impossible.