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Nowadays manufacturing companies are facing many different challenges as they are finding themselves in a dynamic and complex environment. Industrie 4.0 and its principles can help to manage these challenges. For example, companies should follow a principle called continuity of engineering. This continuity enables parallel development and production planning. One important measure to allow a continuity of engineering is the appropriate integration of IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) within the company as well as along the whole value chain. Meant is the networking of machines and plant equipment with IT systems. The management of information resources for example allows data based decisions. Therefore, companies need to have a profound knowledge about the relationship between the integration and information processing of information systems.
There is a common understanding that a certain degree of IT and OT integration highly depends on the company’s typology, which we found out can be represented by the company’s business model. Therefore, we developed a methodology to identify the company’s business model and to derive relevant success factors, both based on a workshop-concept. Based on expert interviews, this enabled us to link the business model or company’s typology with the most important information management principles.
Especially in SMEs of the manufacturing industry, data is not sufficiently used to optimize processes. Some companies have implemented lighthouse “Industrie 4.0 projects”, but struggle with a broader approach. We present the results of a survey we performed that underlines that statement. There are approaches in the literature that propose generic architecture frameworks tackling the mentioned challenge. Still, most of them do not include the existing IT architecture of a company and fail to propose a comprehensive solution delivering a real benefit to companies. Therefore, companies cannot easily use them. For that reason, we developed and tested an Industrie 4.0 software platform architecture companies can use as a blueprint for their own implementation. This architecture is presented in this paper as well as the structured VDI 2221 approach we used to develop it.
Management of information and the IT systems it is stored in becomes a crucial capability for the industry. However, companies are struggling with the management of the various requirements and frequent changes of technology. Thus, IT complexity has become a major challenge for companies. At the same time, especially manufacturing companies are striving to implement Industrie 4.0 concepts. Many of these even have developed an Industrie 4.0 roadmap including various projects to change the company. Companies can develop such roadmaps by applying the Industrie 4.0 Maturity Index that gives a broad view on necessary capabilities for Industrie 4.0.
In our research, we analyzed data sets from over 10 manufacturing companies that have performed an Industrie 4.0 maturity assessment. Our hypothesis was that IT complexity challenges are hindering the implementation of Industrie 4.0 roadmaps significantly. We could prove this hypothesis at least for the companies analyzed and give insights on the specific challenges. Based on our analysis, we conclude our article by giving concrete recommendations on how to tackle IT complexity.
In the age of digitalization, IT strategies are becoming increasingly important. This is due to the fact that corporate IT is the key enabler of digitalization. In many companies, however, corporate IT is not well-aligned with the overall organizational strategy, preventing it from providing the best possible value for the different organizational units. A major challenge is posed by what we term IT complexity, which reduces efficiency and generates high costs for the corporate IT department.
This white paper outlines solutions for companies facing this issue. First, we provide an overview of the relevant terms and highlight the challenges confronting enterprises today. Central to this paper, we describe a four-step approach for the design development of an IT strategy. We introduce various tools with which to assess the current situation and identify relevant aspects of the business environment. Subsequently we outline an approach to strategy formulation and describe tools for strategy implementation and monitoring. Finally, an outlook into the future highlights what companies need to do to thrive into the future.