Section three of the Corporate Transformation Day will focus on value creation excellence and supply chains: “Germany is reinventing itself as a business location” is the subtitle.
The introductory lecture was given by Dr. Sebastian Eckert from the Technical University of Munich and Head of Practice at TCW Transfer Zentrum für Produktionslogistik und Technologie – Management GmbH und Co KG Munich. The title of his presentation was “Implementing data science in companies“. His thesis: In the age of “Industry 4.0”, the increasing amounts of data from production environments are primarily used to control the operational production environment. However, companies often fail to exploit the potential of data for strategic and tactical decisions. One possible reason is that many data analysis tools follow a method-centric view that is not compatible with the problem-centric view of the tasks of a specific department.
Prof. Steffen Kinkel, Head of the ILIN at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, extended the focus to “Value Creation Potential 4.0” – the title of his presentation. His statements: In order to remain successful and competitive in the future, technologies and systems of the so-called “Industry 4.0”, which follow lean principles, play a key role today. Both the intensity of use of lean principles on the input side and the value creation and productivity potential on the output side must be measured. The use of lean principles has a significant positive effect on the labor productivity of German industrial companies. In addition, the quality of production can be improved through the use of lean principles. The use of Industry 4.0 technologies also has a positive but limited impact on labor productivity compared to the potential of lean principles. Above all, consistent use of lean principles in the production environment can generate value creation potential of around €95 billion.
Value creation and supply chains are closely interwoven, as can be seen from the fact that German industry generates around 52% of its turnover from subcontracting.
The problems surrounding supply chains, caused by supply bottlenecks and interruptions to transportation routes, are such a serious burden for many companies today that they are having to think about fundamental changes to supply sources and supply chains, including in-house production.
The problems surrounding the availability of software and the semiconductor issue have received less public attention. The dramatic nature of the global risk potential is illustrated, for example, by the fact that an attack by China on Taiwan could cut off the majority of supplies of high-performance semiconductor components, with devastating effects on industrialized nations. With his lecture ” The supply chain problem: chips decide entire industries. What now? “, Martin Kügler looks at this challenge and presents possible solutions for discussion. Kügler is Manager for Operational Transaction Services at EY-Parthenon Transaction, Strategy and Execution.
Germany has launched several major investment projects to secure complex semiconductors. The most important of these is the factory that Intel is planning in Magdeburg. This will give us a competitive edge internationally and make us less dependent on suppliers from abroad. However, we are lagging behind investment volumes in the USA and Korea. Once it is completed in 2027, we will be able to fill significant gaps in supply, but until then we will be largely dependent on supplies from abroad. As the major industrialized nations are all making huge investments in factory capacities at the same time, there is a risk of a supply glut with a corresponding drop in prices. Such a pig cycle is not untypical for the semiconductor industry.
The last statements were taken from the discussion moderated by Kai Lucks.
You can watch the recording of this part of the event and all other topics here on the BM&A YouTube channel.
