INDUSTRY 4.0 BAROMETER - ITERATIVE ASSESSMENT OF INDUSTRY 4.0 ACTIVITIES IN GERMAN INDUSTRY

Industry 4.0 has gained substantially in significance over the last few years and has become a strategic focus through out the industry. Businesses have understood that digital transformation to achieve Industry 4.0 targets must be based on the intelligent networking of the real and virtual worlds. The idea is to increase the efficiency of business processes and organisation, improve the quality of products and services and facilitate the creation of innovative business models and products. This makes it possible to develop additional customer and market segments.

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Set against this background, businesses across all industries are aiming to ensure greater competitiveness for their existing products and services and also for the relevant value chains. To turn this into profit, businesses are prepared to make high investments in Industry 4.0 technologies over the next few years [GSM+15].

At the same time, businesses tend to be put off by the considerable financial outlay and complexities of implementing these ideal technological scenarios. Moreover, it is often the case that the required investment cannot be quantified, the solutions would only be profitable in the long term or there is too little expertise within the company for the successful realisation of Industry 4.0 solutions. There are not enough examples where businesses have already successfully implemented complete Industry 4.0 principles. Most businesses are therefore still unsure as to what their general goal for Industry 4.0 should be, and how they might achieve it.

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