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Faster, bigger, more complex – the business of mechanical and plant engineering is undergoing long-lasting change. Customers are no longer requesting just individual machines, but also the assembly of complete turnkey systems, ready for operation. Companies have to roll out large scale orders faster and faster, not just for automobile manufactures, but also for OEMs in different fields. Many medium-sized mechanical engineering firms can’t keep up, as shown in market analyses carried out by the Staufen consultancy firm.

Flexibility until batch size 1, gain significance. Three out of four mechanical engineering corporations are convinced that with the help of Lean Management it is easier to manage the individual desires from clients. Already today, a majority of the corporations record a higher productivity as well as a reduced lead time. These are the results of the study “25 Years of Lean Management” from the management consultancy Staufen. In cooperation with the TU Darmstadt, approximately 1500 executives, from industrial companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, were interviewed, 350 of them were from mechanical engineering corporations.

The German Industry 4.0 Index continues to rise: From 16 points on a scale of 0-100 in 2014, it climbed in 2015 to 30 points and in the middle of 2016 to 35 points. In concrete terms, this means that by now, four out of ten companies have direct experience with smart industry. For the now third compilation of the “German Industry 4.0 Index”, 277 industrial firms were surveyed for the Staufen management consultancy.

Three-quarters of German industrial companies currently experience a great pressure to innovate. Particularly affected by this is the electrical industry (almost 90 percent), followed by the automotive industry (over 78 percent) and machine and plant engineering (around 75 percent). Furthermore, eight out of ten companies consider successful innovations even more important these days than in the past. This is evident in the 2016 Innovation Study by the Staufen Management Consultancy with 168 German industrial companies.

Digitalization continues to drive the German economy forward. A cause for concern are not so much the technical challenges but the incredible speed and scope of changes that employees have to face. At this year’s BestPractice Day by the Staufen consultancy, the more than 350 participants thus agreed: Only companies with a serious focus on leadership and employee development, implementing both as the core of their strategy will actually realize the potentials of digital transformation.

Efficient and effective processes are the prerequisite for Industry 4.0. Thus, with every fourth company, the drivers for Lean Management are no longer only the own growth and profit targets but also new technologies. Thereby, companies are first and foremost optimizing processes and reducing sources of waste. What is more, they deem it important to reduce the throughput and set-up times. This is shown by the results of the study by the management consulting firm Staufen on “25 years of Lean Management“. In cooperation with the Technical University of Darmstadt, about 1,350 managers from German industrial companies were questioned in this regard.

German industry continues to aim for strong growth in China. Companies which are already active in the Chinese market are looking to expand even further; in just a decade, more than a quarter of them are hoping to generate up to half of their total turnover in China. This is shown by the results of the ‘Northeast China Location Study’, conducted by the business consultancy Staufen. More than 400 executives from German industrial enterprises were surveyed about this.

It is no longer possible to imagine factory halls without it, yet other corporate areas are frequently still working without Lean Management. Only one in every five industrial operations such as research and development, for instance, or the classic administration departments, are already working in accordance with lean management methods. Slowly, however, there is a paradigm shift, and companies are increasingly focusing on establishing the Lean culture in all departments. This is shown by the results of the study on “25 years of Lean Management“, conducted by the management consultant company Staufen. In cooperation with the Technical University of Darmstadt, about 1,350 managers from German industrial companies were questioned in this regard.

The BestPractice Day, Europe’s leading Lean Management congress, is marked by a very special omen in 2016: 25 years after the publication of the book “The Machine That Changed the World”, which had sustainably changed the culture in German factories and almost everywhere on earth, Lean pioneers from across the world will be meeting in Darmstadt on 6 and 7 July. Together, during talks with industry managers, they will be discussing how to master current challenges and be successful on the way toward the smart industry world.