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The unmistakable trend towards customization is still going strong in the field of production technology. A fifth of German manufacturing companies are already creating a batch size of 1 at the costs of serial production. Within no more than five years, another 28% want to have achieved this goal, with another 14% to follow suit in the next ten years. These findings emerged in the course of the German Industry 4.0 Index, which was recently released for the fourth time. Some 400 manufacturing companies in Germany were surveyed by Staufen corporate consultants.

For 54 percent of German businesses, the creative process is still very much unstructured. 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. Putting your faith in creative chaos has its consequences: Unnecessarily long development times and high costs. Market analysis shows, with structured development processes more new products reach market maturity faster.

One of the most important topics that manufacturing companies face around the globe is having efficient processes. The goal is to make the company fit and agile enough to hold its own against international competitors. As one of the leading figures in the field of Lean management consulting, Staufen has been active for years in many different countries, including Poland and Italy. In 2017, both of these branch offices are celebrating their tenth anniversary. We are honoring the occasion with a brief look back at our work in both countries.

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.