A different approach is needed to cope with digitization and innovations

 "In recent years, terms such as digitization, the creation of new digital business models, the Cloud and Edge have been popping up more and more often as new technologies are rapidly succeeding each other. This requires a different approach," states Patrick Bruder, team leader Product Management Systems & IIoT at Lenze. He explains what key focal points are for a successful transformation and explains how Lenze addresses this.

 "We are constantly dealing with new technologies as more and more systems are linked together and can communicate with each other. This requires a different approach, especially in R&D. This department has to react faster to new technologies while the development time is often much shorter," Bruder begins. "To know whether you are going down the right path, it is advisable to work out ideas on a small scale, checking what is happening on the market and whether successes can be achieved with the chosen solutions. That way, you will know whether you should continue developing or not. For example, you can work with mock-ups that you develop over several weeks before starting full development. In some cases it will turn out that the mock-ups are not a success, so you don't have to invest extra time and money in them. If the first design does turn out to be a success, then you can take steps forward again. It's a different way of looking at R&D." Collaboration between different departments is also important. "We have a number of business units within Lenze, each with its own specialty: one for CPQ (configure, price, quote), one for digital services and one to integrate various components. The advantage of Lenze is that the know-how is there, we can combine and reuse resources and bring together knowledge of IT and OT."

Thinking ahead

Thinking three steps ahead is necessary. "Many companies develop and sell parts for the machine builder, who in turn has to serve the end customer. So you have to understand what is going on in the market while also considering whether you can compete with other providers. This means that in some cases you will not bring the best product to market. That need not be a problem if you develop open systems where the end customer has access to the data. This allows integration into the end customer's systems and allows them to make adjustments as they wish without great effort."

Standards

So open systems are becoming increasingly important. "There are many industry standards. Some are against open systems and lumber everything shut so that the end customer gets little flexibility. This approach is often fear-driven, but in my opinion is the wrong way of thinking. If the interface is what protects your business, that's a bad thing. Instead, you need to be able to convince with the technology behind it. The interface is only there to make data available. It is precisely by realizing the processes in the best, most efficient or fastest way that you achieve success."

Training

Since an organization is constantly dealing with new technologies, it is important to familiarize your employees with these and train them adequately. "It's no longer about knowing the buzz-words, but your people need to understand what's behind this and how to deal with it. What does standardization mean? What does OPC UA mean? How do you deal with open systems and combining IT and OT? How do you keep cybersecurity in place? Investing in training is necessary so that employees can have the right discussions about where you want to go as a company, and then turn it into reality."