Page 18 - ITAtube Journal 2/2019

Technical Papers
Messe Düsseldorf GmbH
Established companies and start-ups
Stronger together: Digitisation is dematerialisation
Established companies offer the greatest potential for digital transformation. However, tradi- tional industrial companies are too focussed in the concentration of their digitisation strategy on optimisation of the processes used in their existing business. Experts are noticing that established companies are still targeting new growth through new services too rarely. It is precisely here that traditional companies and start- ups can learn from each other successfully, as examples from the metal industry demonstrate convincingly. Such examples of successful digital transformation are being presented at the met- allurgical trade fair METEC in the context of the “The Bright World of Metals” from 25. to 29. June 2019 by, for instance, the VDMA Metallurgy trade association.
In the digital transformation age, established companies are starting to take new approaches from the start-up community seri- ously too. A current example of this is design thinking, which is considered to be the epitome of creativity, e.g. at SMS group, the metallurgical plant manufacturer.
The long-established company is well known all over the world for the technical perfection of its machines and equipment for the production and processing of iron, steel and non-ferrous metals. For a long time now, technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality or digital twins have been proven instruments in the plan- ning, design and construction of
new steel mills, with which SMS applies German engineering skills to create machine technology of the highest quality, including electrics and automation – more recently with the help of such innovative production methods as additive manufacturing too. What is new, however, is that the machine and plant manufac- turer is developing digital prod- ucts and services to an increasing extent. When it launched SMD Digital in May 2016, the technol- ogy company provided itself with a start-up that gives customers from the steel and non-ferrous metal industry the appropriate tools for digital transformation. Such as software for “Industry 4.0” solutions and apps for the metal industry, which are made available via the in-house platform mySMS group. SMS group is planning to present new digital services and products at the forthcoming met- allurgical trade fair METEC 2019.
As software developers with a digital mindset, the staff of SMS Digital in Düsseldorf, the city on the Rhine, are keen, entitled (and required) to live a different corpo- rate culture than the technicians in the SMS mechanical workshop in the Siegerland, where regular working hours, time clocks and works councils are standard fea- tures of everyday operations in the industrial age. The approach adopted by the software devel- opers is very different from the classic method of operation used by the engineers. In design think- ing, development starts with the customer and his problem rather than with a meticulously
compiled set of speci cations. A user-based approach involves validation of ideas interactively between the digital unit and the customer, before a prototype is selected to be optimised for large- scale introduction. Once the idea has been turned into a marketable solution, it can be included in the parent company’s programme. The digital unit was not established on an exclusively internal basis, however. The Munich business consultants etventure helped to structure SMS Digital and acted as a kind of “matchmaker” in the successful marriage between the “old” and “new” economies.
VDMA Metallurgy: focus on companies’ overall digital strategy
Kathrin Delcuve is the expert responsible for innovation and technology development at the VDMA Metallurgy trade asso- ciation. When she talks about “Industry 4.0” and IoT, what she means are instruments for digital transformation of (and in) indus- trial production. She explains: “For process-based metallurgi- cal production technologies, it was crucial rst of all to be able to improve process and quality control by taking advantage of big data methods”. The clear objec- tive was to be in a position to offer customers energy and cost savings in the production process and this continues to be the case now too. As an example, the VDMA expert mentions the use of data mining processes to improve the correlation of machine data and process parameters. This enables prediction models to be developed
ITAtube Journal No2/May 2019
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