PAC Study on Digitalization - Focus: Industry 4.0

Many companies are already driving forward the concept of Industry 4.0. A modern ERP system is usually seen as a prerequisite.

"The study results underscore the willingness of German SMEs to seize the opportunities offered by Industrie 4.0.

Innovations in this area come about through the interaction of clever minds, a willingness to change and suitable IT technology"

says Frank Niemann, Vice President Enterprise Apps & Related Services at PAC and co-author of the study.

If we look at the status quo for Industry 4.0 projects, we see that the number of companies that have already implemented initial projects or launched pilot projects predominates (71 percent).

However, one-third of the companies surveyed still consider digitization to be little more than a "buzzword" or are currently only in the process of testing and evaluating the potential added value of Industrie 4.0 initiatives.

For the study, 102 senior IT and business unit managers from the manufacturing industry were surveyed on the opportunities and challenges of digitization or Industry 4.0 and the role of ERP solutions in this context.

For the most part, companies perceive digitization as an opportunity. Accordingly, 78 percent of companies expect to be able to offer new products and services, and a large proportion (74 percent) expect to be able to expand or open up new markets.

The SMEs surveyed from the manufacturing sector mainly hope that digitization will improve their processes and consequently increase efficiency (92 percent).

When it comes to the details of process optimization, SMEs expect above all a positive impact on customer services, so that customer wishes can be better addressed (72 percent).

Although modern software and flexible IT systems are undoubtedly very important, it is not only technology that determines the success or failure of Industrie 4.0 projects.

For companies, other success factors such as cross-departmental collaboration (89 percent), employee training and development (82 percent), and top management support (82 percent) are highly relevant.

"We see every day with our customers how important Industry 4.0 is for them. The study confirms our experience. A lot has already happened in the area of efficient production.

The next step is the development of smart products. Here, medium-sized companies in Germany still have many as yet untapped opportunities."

adds Friedrich Neumeyer, CEO at proALPHA.

The study "Digitalization in German SMEs" is available for free download on the proALPHA website.