Target group
Industrial companies that want to digitalise their business and/or value-creation processes in order to strengthen their competitiveness, productivity and resilience.
Digitalising and transforming the factory
To digitalise business and value-creation processes, software4production applies technologies such as Industry 4.0, AI, IoT and MES — a portfolio that we have been researching, developing and bringing to market for more than 15 years:
- Solutions for Industry 4.0, Manufacturing Execution and factory-wide digitalisation cover, among others, production engineering, real-time production planning and control, shop-floor data collection, machine data collection and intralogistics control.
- Solutions for automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in production reach from process control and automation all the way to energy-efficiency optimisation.
Case study: digital transformation at STIHL
STIHL is a German family-owned hidden champion headquartered in Waiblingen, specialised in chainsaws and motorised garden equipment. STIHL employs more than 17,000 people worldwide and generated revenue of almost EUR 4 billion in 2023. The research, technology and development centre in Waiblingen hosts around 650 design engineers. Despite SAP ERP / S/4HANA and PTC Creo PLM being in place, the end-to-end processes from design to prototype build had until recently been only partly digitalised and lacked continuous support.
The prototype build organisation consists of internal departments for Additive Manufacturing (AM), CNC machining (including magnesium components), SMD assembly, injection moulding as well as external assignments to more than 300 suppliers. Eight order managers make the make-or-buy decision on a component and customer-order basis and coordinate the complete order fulfilment.
Before the digital transformation of the prototype order-fulfilment process, the setup was characterised by high manual effort, little transparency for design engineers, long lead times and frequent fire-fighting. After the transformation, engineers create the required orders directly in the intranet and follow their progress live. Preview images are generated automatically from STL and other files as an assistant for order managers; CAD data and documents are handled end-to-end via Microsoft SharePoint from quotation and award to internal production. Purchase requisitions are created automatically in SAP ERP and synchronised with supply-chain management up to goods receipt, with expected and confirmed delivery dates always aligned. In Additive Manufacturing, work is now performed digitally on tablets. All orders are permanently scheduled in 4APS and the planned completion dates are visualised for the design engineers in their cockpit — closing the control loop between design and prototype build.
Benefits
- Costs ↓
- Flexibility ↑
- On-time delivery ↑
- Transparency ↑
- Productivity ↑
- Responsiveness ↑
- Real-time information ↑
- Competitiveness ↑