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Vom kleinen Industrieroboter „Horst“, über professionelle Livestreaming-Software via Smartphone bis zu besonders kleinen thermoelektrischen Generatoren und Prothesen aus dem 3D-Drucker – elf innovative Ideen aus den Bereichen Robotik, IT und Medizintechnik machten im elften Jahr der Gründerinitiative WECONOMY das Rennen. Am vergangenen Wochenende lösten die Start-ups den ersten Teil ihres Gewinns ein und entwickelten beim WECONOMY-Wochenende bei der Landesbank Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart in intensiven Einzelgesprächen mit Managern und Persönlichkeiten der deutschen Wirtschaft ihre Geschäftsidee weiter.

Not even half of the German companies that have already actively adopted Industry 4 is capitalizing on industrial internet platforms to distribute or support their value chain. And every fourth company is actually ruling out making use of this technology in the near future. These are the findings of Staufen Consultancy’s “German Industry 4.0 Index”. For the study, Staufen Digital Neonex experts surveyed approximately 400 industries in Germany.

Just a few short days before the International Motor Show (IAA), the industry continues to get bad press. The arrogance that the entire automobile industry is often criticized for is much too general a judgement, one that many mid-sized suppliers feel is unfair, according to a recent questionnaire sent out by Staufen Consultancy. As per the questionnaire, 75 percent of automobile industry companies believe that their products run a high or even very high risk of being displaced. And every second company actually feels that their entire company is at risk. The automotive industry is therefore significantly more concerned about its future than the mechanical engineering or electronics industry. These are the results of the “Success in Transformation” study carried out by Staufen Consultancy. As a part of the study, more than 650 top management executives of German companies were surveyed, of which 100 were from the automobile industry.

The German Industry 4.0 Index has continued to climb since Staufen Consultancy started collecting data for the index in 2014. This year, it reached a rating of 41 out of 100 possible points, its highest value to date. Almost all companies have recognized that they can no longer avoid digital transformation. Whereas last year, one-third of companies were still in the observation phase, now only one-quarter is making do with analyzing this potential. 48 percent of companies have actually already gone through the ensuing planning and test phase. They are either applying Industry 4.0 to individual projects or implementing it company-wide. Staufen Digital Neonex experts surveyed approximately 400 German companies for the German Industry 4.0 Index 2017.

Megatrends such as digitization, individualization and globalization have considerably increased the complexity of many business models. In fact, an increasing number of businesses are already making use of new technological opportunities to optimize their global supply chains or minimize equipment downtime using predictive maintenance. However, the biggest challenge – as expressed unanimously by participants at this year’s “Best Practice Day”, hosted by Staufen Consulting – remains that of keeping a business in a permanent state of adaptability.

There is one thing that German companies agree on: adaptability is key when it comes to reacting appropriately to megatrends such as digitalization, individualization and the like. As first indicated by the “Change Readiness Index”, there is, however, a significant difference between companies when it comes to their actual ability to adapt. Because even though the average results of the Change Readiness Index (CRI) were at 58 points out of a possible 100, the individual results ranged anywhere from 18 to 90 CRI points. For its “Change Readiness Index 2107”, Staufen Consulting surveyed more than 650 top executives from German companies.

The Swiss management consultants Staufen.Inova AG have again received the coveted ASCO Award. With a project involving the sustainable transformation at Pistor AG, the market leading supplier for bakeries, confectioners and the catering business in Switzerland, the consulting specialists are the winners in the category „International Consulting“. In June 2016 already, the former Inova Management AG was awarded the highly esteemed prize of the Association of Management Consultants Switzerland (ASCO).

Work hours, salary and vacation regulations: 36 percent of German companies have already adapted these to Working World 4.0 or are in the process of doing so. Another 19 percent of organizations are already thinking along more concrete terms about how they will deal with the digitization of the working world. However, for almost every second company, the possibilities and rules of the future working world are not even on the agenda. These are the results of the study “Success in Change”. As a part of the study, more than 650 top management executives were surveyed by Staufen Consultancy. The complete study will be presented early July at “BestPractice Day 2017”, Europe’s leading lean management congress.

What the production failures at BMW show: The sector has to focus more on how its supply chains work. Most of the demand is on the system suppliers. Staufen AG’s market analyses show that nothing is done until there is a problem with suppliers at the end of the value chain, and this is usually too late. There is also still a lot of potential to make the entire supply interruption free by reducing complexity. With the electric car market on the upswing, being proactive is becoming increasingly important, since new suppliers with little industry experience have to be integrated.