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Technical Papers
As Managing Director of Digitali- sation, the mechanical engineer with a doctorate is responsible for the Digital Solutions as well as the Electrical Systems and Automation divisions of the SMS group. As a professor at Jacobs University Bremen, the expert for production technology already implemented digitalisation and logistics projects for customers from the steel industry.
Opportunity of digitalisation – danger of disruption
The digitalisation of production creates a dynamic ecosystem. The potential opens up opportunities for new competitors from the start-up scene to offer new ser- vices in order to make established companies vulnerable – even to the point of disrupting existing customer-supplier relationships.
“Digitalisation and disruption are affecting every company and every industry”, says Philipp Depiereux, founder and CEO of Etventure. The only difference is the speed of change. “What the publishing and music industries have already painfully experi- enced may also affect steel mills and foundries in the future.” This was also demonstrated by exam- ples from other rather traditional sectors such as the heating indus- try. In this case, start-up Ther- mondo used a good, digital offer to insert itself between the end user and established providers in a very brief time and is today the largest installer of heating systems in Germany.
Depiereux, who together with Etventure advised not only plant manufacturer SMS but also steel trader Klöckner and assisted in establishing a digital business model with a start-up in Berlin, is certain of the following: “Steel
Industry 4.0 I Digital solutions in companies www.tbwom.com
Prognosis: Increase in turnover
of almost 100 per cent in Germany with Industry 4.0 solutions
7. 2*
5.9*
4 .1*
2015 2017 Source: Statista
25–29 JUNE 2019 DÜSSELDORF
The Bright World of Metals
mills and foundries need to be aware of one thing: Everything that can be digitalised will even- tually be digitalised. They have to ask themselves whether they want to stand by and watch this change or whether they would rather take action themselves before a digital player attacks their core business”, warns Depiereux. The digital expert also has good advice for established companies: “Above all, they need to understand what these large digital players and start-ups do differently and make these success factors their own.”
It is not convincing to Depiereux that steel manufacturers and foundries, forges and rolling mills, as classic representatives of the old economy with their heavy and bulky products, appear at rst glance to be less willing to embrace the new business
2018
*Turnover in billions of euros
The Bright World of Metals
models of digital transformation. “Selling a steel slab digitally is of course more complex than doing the same with a book. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t succeed and that someone will inevitably do it at some point.”
(Author: Gerd Krause, Media- konzept/Düsseldorf)
GERMANY
worldwide
GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS, NEWCAST 2019
Monika Kissing/
Michelle Pietsch
Tel: +49 (0)211-4560 543/465 Fax: +49 (0)211-4560 87543
KissingM@messe-duesseldorf. de PietschM@messe-duesseldorf. de
ITAtube Journal No3/October 2018
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