An Unlimited Digital Transition.

When a component maker like the WEISS Group talks with a system integrator like HEITEC AG about the role that digitalization plays at their companies, each has definite ideas. They are less clear, however, about the paths that they might take as a team to drive digital engineering across both companies. It’s therefore much more important for them to talk about how to assign the digital roles involved in generating value. This is paving the way for a postmodern customer focus.

Both companies definitely have potential for (digitally) generating value. Boosting sales, streamlining production processes, slashing costs: without a doubt, efforts to boost their respective digital performance should focus on these goals. Ultimately, these activities will shape technical system integration in areas that include software engineering and how applications are used, managed, and updated.

At the same time, it’s fascinating to witness how companies communicate this evolution to customers, among others. The roles involved in generating value are often defined in rigidly classical terms and therefore lack sufficient flexibility for truly open digital engineering. It’s important to encourage greater communication among those who are responsible for deciding what can and should be done in terms of digitalization, down the chain from component makers across system integrators all the way to machine operators. It’s precisely within this gray area – and here WEISS Group and HEITEC AG see eye to eye – that there is still enormous room for increasing efficiency and learning throughout the mechanical engineering value chain.

Data As a Currency in Mechanical Engineering. It’s not enough for a component manufacturer like WEISS to take a system- and mechatronics-oriented approach and add digital tools to its portfolio. Nor is it sufficient for a system integrator like HEITEC to offer its own, digital methods and tools for everything from digital planning across virtual commissioning all the way to digital twins. Both companies need to engage in a dialog at a much earlier stage and more openly to determine how they can work together to design more efficient systems.

Let’s start over again: What do operators of production equipment, machine builders, system integrators, switching system builders, and component makers have in common? Answer: They all work together down through the value chain, from planning all the way to operating a finished machine or system. The lowest common denominator is sharing of information and data. But according to WEISS and HEITEC, this is precisely where the approach isn’t working. It should actually be their greatest common denominator. Currently the process is still hampered by countless disconnects that reduce efficiency and increase error rates.

An Appeal for Sharing More Data. The moral of the story is that mechanical engineering companies still don’t pay enough attention to improving their digitalization strategies and increasing the digitalization levels of their processes, products, and business models. This doesn’t mean that they are inactive, just that a reality check reveals a need for them be more proactive?and develop the above-mentioned greatest common denominator in everything from technological drivers and innovation trends like sensors, artificial intelligence, autonomous software systems, and the Internet of Things to drive a collective digital transformation in the value chain.

Inspiration for digitalized products, new business models, and internal processes: these aspects also alter the competitive situation in a sociotechnical system, in other words across its technological, organizational, and work-related dimensions. WEISS and HEITEC are among the companies that have recognized the need for strategic action to resolve this conflict.

A Coordinated Digital Give & Take. Ideally, the digitalization strategies of providers should dovetail with those on the user side. It’s true across industries that the solutions offered by machine producers to different customer groups can be aligned, like smart factory concepts with logistics and trading approaches or those in the construction and building technology sectors. In the course of this discussion, CPS and software topics like manufacturing execution systems (MESs), paperless business processes, platform economies, and digital twins have emerged as major digitalization themes in the mechanical engineering industry.

An example of vertical and horizontal integration within companies and seamless networking of corporate processes is provided by an application that HEITEC has developed for the Neustadt, Germany plant of Yanfeng, a producer of automotive interior components. It’s a cockpit system that also integrates a large rotary indexing table from WEISS. In the test setup, the results are directly communicated to an MES. This makes it clear that the application isn’t a self-contained production optimization process as is usually the case. Instead, the focus is on upstream and downstream processes.

It’s worthwhile to keep this in mind in the context of project management. Especially because it can generate fresh insights for one’s own digitalization strategy from the perspective of both users and providers. This is true when adding digital solutions to one’s own portfolio of products and services, and also when developing new, digital fields of business. Ultimately it also applies to in-house digital transformation of corporate processes and organizational structures. This digital groundwork is key in mechanical engineering, a fact that is encouraging WEISS and HEITEC to continue their dialog.

CORE TOPICS. Michael Friess and Uwe Weiss have communicated and reached an understanding. The subject they’re talking about is digital transformation, which is making major strides at both HEITEC AG and the WEISS Group. The core topics are complexity and channels, as well as the customer base from which value is generated for everyone concerned. These aspects are being orchestrated to create value while clearly focusing on the human factor to make sure that intentions will be followed by actions.

Uwe Weiss: “Mr. Friess, looking at our current projects, do you think that it has become harder to digitalize the physical world?”

Michael Frie? : “From my own perspective as an entrepreneur, I see exactly the opposite challenge. Management has to strategically sell digitalization, starting in-house. It’s vital to get the entire engineering team on board for this paradigm shift and new way of thinking compared to the conventional engineering approach.”

Uwe Weiss: “So digitalization isn’t just a matter of technology but also a new mindset, right? The way I see it, the provided technologies and their applications need to be balanced in order to maximize the operational benefits. The customer experience is also crucial, and not just the product or service by itself.”

Michael Friess: “It’s always about adding value for the customer. What matters is how we manage digitalization. Our ability to sell is a key aspect here. Where that is concerned, we see digital interactions with the customer, predictive, tailored recommendations, data-supported insights into customer needs, and automated and integrated sales processes linking sales, marketing, and customer service. If you can present the solution not just as a layout, but also in a video showing the functionality and material flows in real time, this clearly sets it apart in the B2B realm – and turns it into a digital product experience.”

Uwe Weiss: “To drive an evolution like that, the company needs the right orientation. Digital performance starts in our minds and also calls for minds. At WEISS, we’ve created and filled two positions – a chief digital officer and a digitalization director for motion drives and controls – to embody the associated digital organization and responsibilities, both in-house and externally. Digitalization projects for us to think about and review existing processes, and possibly to change and improve them … or even completely rethink them.”

Michael Friess: “Sustainability and determination are also needed, since once something has been digitally developed it can and must be reused. From the perspective of staff, it’s about increasing our own benefits. Because when software is used well, less time is spent at the construction site and more in the office. The aspect of usability also plays a role, especially for the younger generation.”

Uwe Weiss: “No matter how fast the transformation happens, visible lighthouse projects are important. Implementing them crucially defines the company’s agility and lowers psychological barriers. That’s why we don’t bet everything on one big pitch, but instead on quickly implementable, independent initiatives with high visibility. Platform economies and digital twins are coming of age at WEISS right now and providing space for us to gain experience and insights. We want to develop everything with the goal of making sure that everything we’re able to do at WEISS today or in the future can be perceived, experienced, and used.”

Michael Friess: “Digital engineering has been alive and thriving at HEITEC for more than 10 years. Although reaping the benefits of digitalization has involved a steep learning curve, it has boosted our effectiveness and also made customers willing to invest in it.”

Uwe Weiss: “It’s exciting to see how digital and agile corporate cultures are linked and bearing fruit that’s completely redefining the business.”

Michael Friess: “And there’s still no end in sight. New paths are leading us to new goals, like for example establishing and introducing a new CRM, which is poised to unleash an in-house digitalization offensive in sales and service.”

Uwe Weiss: “And many more possibilities are in the air. I think this is going to be our driver in the mechanical engineering industry. This interplay of emerging structures and processes with the unlocking of new digital paths is linking us even more closely with our customers. And we’re only just getting started …”

Under the motto?What's Next??The?TeDo-Publishing House?present a?series?of articles in cooperation with the WEISS Group that focus on the digital transformation. Both internal and external topics are examined in depth. They follow technology- and customer-oriented possible steps of a digitization strategy and show added values for mechanical engineers or end users.?Join us on this exciting journey ... your WEISS Team.