Measurement and evaluation of the digitization maturity levels (IoT Scan) and roadmap

The starting point for a feasible and economical IoT and Industry 4.0 strategy is a complete and objective view of the potentials and implementation hurdles of industrial digitization existing in the company. In practice, it has proven to be a good idea to start with a systematic maturity analysis, as most companies already have a large number of digitisation solutions in place, but these often do not follow a consistent strategy. The method of this IoT scan developed by ROI-EFESO consultants ensures transparency and makes it possible to evaluate the initial situation in a structured way, collect ideas and derive approaches for improvement and development. Fields of action are also prioritised and an initial roadmap with concrete implementation measures is drawn up.

Since there are countless technologies and suppliers for every application or task, the management consultancy ROI-EFESO's goal is to find the right technologies and solutions to suit the company and its IT infrastructure. The benefit is always in the foreground. Digital transformation, correctly thought and done, always has a positive ROI. Our customers have shown in many projects that efficiency increases of up to 30% through process redesign are realistic and up to 10% through digital support of existing processes.

ROI-EFESO starts the digital transformation process from two perspectives: Top Down, derived from the corporate strategy and Bottom Up, based on an analysis of the processes, systems & organization to determine the potentials  

When evaluating the digital maturity level, we focus on the following dimensions: The processes in production, logistics, quality, maintenance and their mastery, on the IT architecture and on the company organization. All dimensions are systematically examined and fields of action are developed.

The IoT pyramid, which represents successive stages of digitization, also serves as a reference framework for the maturity assessment:

For a single production plant, the complexity of maturity assessment is relatively low and becomes correspondingly more demanding in a supply network and plant group. From all fields of action, those are identified which represent a benefit for the entire company. Instead of "Proof of Concept", it is therefore a question of "Proof of Value".

These fields of action are consolidated and described in solutions (use cases). The requirement for a solution, even if it was developed at one location, is to take into account the requirements of all. Because the real challenge is not to develop a digital solution, but to ensure its scalability.

The most promising solutions found in this way are transferred into a digital "development plan" with a horizon of typically 5 years and successively detailed and implemented in the plant network.

In order for the industrial digital transformation to succeed, an appropriate organization must be created - here a balance is struck between centralization and decentralization with corresponding degrees of freedom.

In order to be able to pick up speed during implementation, not all solutions should be conceived and rolled out in a pilot plant, but rather, when designing the roadmap, it should be ensured that each relevant plant in the network is responsible for certain topics and can develop these for the sister plants.

Result:

  • Digital transformation can accelerate business processes and thus create competitive advantages. Throughput times from development to production can be reduced by 30%, throughput times in the administrative area by up to 80%.
  • Good digitization solutions are roll-out capable and scalable. The complete roll-out for a ROI-EFESO Aerospace & Defense customer to several plants took only 2 years.
  • Good digitization projects use agile project methods. For example, an engine manufacturer was able to connect entire production lines within two weeks and use the data for digital shop floor management.
  • Digitization helps to avoid or automate interfaces. As a result, manual processes can be partially eliminated or transferred to workflows. People only have to make decisions, non value-adding activities are reduced.
  • In high-wage countries like Germany, digitization can help to drastically reduce personnel costs. The greatest potential lies in the automation of manual interfaces, the use of RPAs, the integration of development, industrial engineering and production, and the automated creation of complex documents such as assembly instructions and work orders, possibly in combination with the use of new automation solutions such as AGVs, Cobots and intelligent goods provisioning.

CASE STUDIES - PRACTICAL EXAMPLES

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Case Studies

Transformation through smart product development. A job for the "I-Team": A strong development team at a manufacturer of household appliances recorded solid success. But now customers want to network kitchen appliances, refrigerators and mixers in the “smart home”. ROI-EFESO established an "I-Team" with the fresh perspective of "digital natives" and accompanied the internal change with great success.

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Case Studies

In the furniture industry, the use of digital technologies can pay off in several ways: with virtual reality, big data analytics or online configurators, additional sales channels can be opened up. With a globally represented bed manufacturer, ROI-EFESO implemented an "end-to-end digitization" project that took into account all relevant stages of value creation: from the customer experience to ordering to production and logistics.

Case Studies

An automotive supplier improved the transparency of work and organizational processes in a production plant for dashboards. With a "Digital Process Twin" from ROI-EFESO, the company reduced the reject rate and made improvement potentials in its value creation networks visible.

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Case Studies

Shaping the factory of the future with Lean 4.0. How can lean principles be combined with the technologies and possibilities of networked digitization in value creation networks? By further qualifying employees to become decision-makers. The ROI-EFESO certification program for "Lean Digital Manager" shows how digitalization of lean production works. To do this, it combines strategies with Industry 4.0 technologies.

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Case Studies

The energy market is data-driven, smart solutions determine the business model. In order to always be a step ahead of the competition, one thing is required: flexibility in thinking and acting. A utility company wanted to take the performance of its global R&D organization to a new level. In the first step, together with ROI-EFESO, it obtained a general overview of the respective degree of agilization of the various R&D units and processes.

ROI Case Studie - Smart Factory Planning
Case Studies

What does the ideal factory of the future look like? Do products there control their production completely independently? A pharmaceuticals and life sciences company plans the main directions for the smart factory transformation of four plants in just one month. Together with ROI-EFESO, the project team creates a "big picture" as a basis for planning and tests three prioritized technologies in pilot projects.

Case Studies

End-to-end supply chain digitalisation in the healthcare sector. Putting together and ordering the desired product according to your own needs at the click of a mouse in the online configurator: these customer requirements must not only be met by companies in the consumer goods industry. This interaction is also highly relevant for manufacturers of medical, customisable products. However, whether assistants, support stockings or other products expand the B2C business in this way depends on the digital maturity of the logistics and production processes.

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Case Studies

A manufacturer of thickening, binding and coating agents is established as a reliable supplier in the pharmaceutical industry. Master an Industry 4.0 transformation in 12 months and fulfill the growth strategy. With the first test pilots for the use of smart analytics, RFID trackers and a customer portal, the company is already on the right track. Because without digitization or Industry 4.0 technologies, the set goals cannot be achieved.

Case Studies

The ROI-EFESO case study describes how a confectionery manufacturer is expanding its competitive position with a comprehensive digitalization initiative. With ROI-EFESO, it is expanding the successes already achieved by its WCOM (*World Class Operations Management) program in the direction of highly digitalized production.

Case Studies

The ROI-EFESO case study describes how a chocolate manufacturer started its digital transformation with ROI-EFESO. The goal: to activate potential in production and logistics to increase efficiency. The project team laid the foundations for this with a group-wide digitalization strategy and a roadmap for its implementation in several plants around the world.