Digitale Transformation

An essential component of digital value creation is the innovation of digitally networked business models. By networking different actors and service bundles, new customer value can be created. However, this networking leads to increased complexity, which makes it difficult for tradition- al industrial companies in particular to exploit these opportunities in a meaningful way. For this reason, a system is presented that reduces com- plexity through modelling and makes it possible to compare the effort and benefits of business model ideas at an early stage.

With a world population of ten billion people by the middle of the 21st century, natural resources must be used sustainably to prevent environmental disasters and wars. Traditional concepts such as recycling alone are no longer sufficient. Instead, we must think in terms of material cycles and transform the traditional production economy into a circular economy. To achieve this, a close link between production and recycling must be established, which is hardly conceivable without digitalization. This article begins with an overview of steps of industrial development towards more sustainability, finally showing how the digital transformation can facilitate the realization of a circular economy.

Digital platforms have meanwhile also established among product manufacturers. Besides virtual marketplaces, platforms that aim to digitally connect production processes and thus focus on Industry 4.0 are also of particular interest. In the context of the emerging platformization of industry, product manufacturers are faced with the question of what perspectives exist in the platform business and how new potentials of digital value creation can be exploited. The article shows which platform-based business models are currently being discussed for product manufacturers and which perspectives exist for manufacturers turning into providers of platform-based business models.

Against the backdrop of industrial transformation, medium-sized supplier firms can use digital technologies to optimize their work processes. New digital production systems offer one opportunity for organizing factory processes more efficiently. However, their introduction requires a “corporate culture 4.0” that is characterized by trust in decisions concerning the future design of such systems, despite the involved high uncertainties. Using the example of a digital tool management system, this article presents measures for strengthening such a corporate culture.

Through disruptive changes and an increasing globalization, companies have to rethink their traditional working models. Thereby, the digital transformation seems to provide a solid answer to this challenge and enables a rapid adaption to the new circumstances. Humans are of central importance to respond to these changing demands. A challenge hereby is, that humans have to be embedded in such a flexible working environment considering, that the competence profile is changing rapidly. In order to solve these challenges, a competence profile is provided. Furthermore, it is shown that a working model for the digital transformation enables a company to respond quickly and flexibly to new environmental conditions.

Industry 4.0 is work in progress in Germany, digital technologies such as IoT, KI, Cloud or Big Data Analytics are increasingly being introduced in companies. However, alongside technology, people and organisation are the central success factors of digital transformation. Further training, lifelong learning, agile organisation and corporate culture are becoming increasingly important in companies. Study results on the competence requirements for industrial work 4.0 show that in addition to IT and technical skills, openness, overview knowledge, interdisciplinary cooperation and agility are also required. Young professionals from NRW largely understand the importance of these competences, but show significant deficits in many of them, especially in digital competences, interdisciplinary cooperation and agility. It is necessary to promote these competences in a targeted manner during studies and further education.

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.