Today’s factories are undergoing a transformation. But where are these transformation processes headed? Tobias Herwig, Business Unit Manager for Factory Design at io, sheds light on the matter: On his podcast FabrikDerZukunft.com, he explores innovative concepts, smart technologies, and bold ideas that will shape the production conditions of tomorrow. Since February 2021, he has been hosting weekly conversations with plant managers, factory planners, production managers, and other fascinating personalities. He discusses with them their visions for the future, best practices, and the courage needed to navigate the industrial revolution.
The family-owned company ifm has approximately 8,300 employees, five plants in Germany, and four plants abroad. Its production is characterized by a large number of different production lines with a wide variety of variants. Bernd, you won the award for the best factory—congratulations! How does an organization need to be structured to be a pioneer in innovation?
You need highly motivated people who are given a playing field that’s appropriately equipped. You have to give employees’ creativity free rein. And then successes like this become possible. We’ve established appropriate flagship projects and allocated an adequate budget to test out employees’ ideas.
Do you have an example of an idea in the field of automation that came from employees and was then implemented?
Specifically, we were dealing with a machine that was operated manually. A foreman and an engineer approached me and asked if I would provide them with funding for a robot. The guys integrated this robot into the machine on their own and transformed it from a manual machine into an automated one. Of course, we recognized their achievement. But the initial impetus came from providing them with the robot in the first place. They outlined and explained the idea to me—and after that, we were able to estimate the costs. We then calculated a rough return on investment. It was expected to be realized within about two to three years.
How about on the product side? In order for you to make the production lines modular, the product itself must also be modular.
One of the key elements was the “Design for Manufacturing” tool. We thoroughly redesigned our old products so that we can produce them efficiently in a continuous flow. This results in significantly lower costs than simply digitizing them. First, we need to use this tool to streamline our process and design the product for easy assembly. We gain so much from this that we can demonstrate corresponding cost savings. These savings then lay the groundwork for future digitization.
Would you say that Lean was—and perhaps still is—an important foundation for digital transformation?
No Lean, no digital transformation. That’s quite clear, in my opinion. Lean creates a structure within business processes—and this structure is an essential prerequisite for setting up a digital process. I need a clear material flow within the company, complete with a set of rules, so that I can collect and analyze the relevant data and make decisions based on it.
When we talk about the fundamentals of digital transformation, data is always a major topic. How do I exchange data? Do I have a platform in the background where I can exchange this data?
Yes, that’s a central aspect of digitalization. It’s often overlooked. I need to create a network to collect data from the machines and individual workstations into a single data container. This is the foundation of digitalization, but it’s difficult to quantify its ROI. It’s not exactly cheap—many people forget that. That’s why I say: Digitalization is about achieving sustainable efficiency gains.
Some of your processes are still carried out manually. What’s the story there? Is it sometimes harder to create meaningful digitalization use cases when not everything is already automated?
We asked ourselves: How can I achieve the same quality standards at a manual workstation as at a fully automated one? That’s how our digital workshop assistant came about. We now have a 2D-3D camera that can verify compliance with standard work procedures at the workstation. With this digital assistant in place, it’s now possible for employees to receive setup instructions. For example, how should they set up their workstation? And afterward, the process is verified. As a result, we’ve managed to drastically reduce the error rate. The advantage of our digital workshop assistant is that the employee works as usual in their familiar environment. They are guided and supported by the system—and don’t perceive it as a monitoring tool, but rather as something that truly makes their work easier.
Do you have a vision for where you want to go next?
Sustainability is currently a top priority for us. Over the next three years, we want to assess how much energy we need for each production line. Where is there room for optimization? Where can I receive intelligent reports about the workstation and its usage? This certainly won’t save us millions. But the point is to raise awareness of sustainability in the production environment.
What do you think: Where is digitalization headed?
I see the potential for machines to use maintenance algorithms to suggest better or more targeted solutions. That way, you know you’re focusing on the right issues. I also see this potential in the material flow itself. When it comes to setup costs for small-batch production, for example, the question arises of how to schedule orders to ensure optimal production. AI can be a huge help here, ensuring that processes flow as smoothly as possible through production.
Feel free to connect with Bernd Hausler on LinkedIn
Bernd Hausler and Tobias Herwig welcome feedback on the episode via LinkedIn or at podcast(at)fabrikderzukunft.com
