Industry 4.0

Aug 15 2016

Industry 4.0 – Revolution or Evolution | Bodo Wiegand | Wiegand’s Watch

 

Bodo WiegandBodo Wiegand heads Germany’s Lean Management Institute. In his latest newsletter, on Wiegand’s Watch, he explains how he feels manufacturers should respond to the German government’s Industry 4.0 initiative.

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May 2 2016

Three Ways Big Data Helps Manufacturers Think Bigger | Industry Week

“Here are three ways Big Data is helping manufacturers think bigger than ever before:

  1. Monitoring Product Quality Proactively
  2. Seeing the Future—and Changing It
  3. Getting Customers into the Data-Collection Game”
Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.industryweek.com

Michel Baudin‘s comments:

Manufacturers already collect data by the gigabyte, including metadata, plans and schedules, status, and history. It’s not big data. It’s tiny when compared to the daily terabytes generated by transactions on Amazon or eBay, but it is still ample fodder for analysis, that is woefully underutilized.

The current databases contain information about trends, cyclical variations, product mix, and quality issues that most manufacturers do not currently extract. In such a context, I see an effort at improving analytics on existing data as a more relevant challenge than multiplying the quantity of collected data.

See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing

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Jan 11 2016

A critical look on Industry 4.0 | Christoph Roser

One of the hottest buzzwords right now (at least in Germany) is Industry 4.0. However, it’s a bit fuzzy what Industry 4.0 is, exactly. In this post I would like to talk about Industry 4.0. This includes very little about all the promises of a wonderful future – you can read that elsewhere. Instead, I will try to give you the big picture. I will talk about how Industry 4.0 came into existence, why it is so popular, what the true current benefit of Industry 4.0 is, and why you should pay attention to clothes.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.allaboutlean.com

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Dec 6 2015

Industry 4.0: Without Stable Processes, Nothing Works | Wiegand’s Watch

This is a translation of Bodo Wiegand’s latest newsletter, about Lean in Germany, followed by my comments:

This week I was with a company that is on its way to implement industry 4.0. All machines were networked. The manager could see from his desk which machines were running and which were not. All data were collected centrally and also shown locally to the machine operator. The trend was easy to see. One third of the machines had a malfunction. With an average OEE of 62%, the machines do not always run.

“As long as we buy new machines, we have to live with this,” was his answer to my question.

But, it was not only the newest, but also the older machines that don’t need to be smeared with oil and dirty, even even while generating chips. Provided on request, the Fire-Fighting-factor reported to us by the maintenance technicians was above 75%. The chief knew exactly: 76.6%. An OEE of 62% and 76.6% Firefighting means in plain language: In this business, there is no stable processes.

But what drives intelligent managers then to link his whole company, only to find that the processes are unstable? With some thought they could have discovered this without networking and invested first in stabilizing the processes. Introducing Industry 4.0 For industry on unstable processes will fail. The crucial question: how I manage to stabilize the processes and avoid unplanned shutdowns?

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Oct 11 2015

Lean and Industry 4.0 – Opposites or Complements? | Wiegand’s Watch

This is a translation of Bodo Wiegand’s latest newsletter, about Lean in Germany, followed by my comments:

Lately, I was at a company where the CEO told me “Mr. Wiegand, Lean is over –  all the talk now is about Industry 4.0”. Well, I hadn’t  seen this coming. Then:

  1. Lean would have been just a passing fad like many management theories.
  2. This company would already be Lean, with all the processes to be designed without waste.

So if Industry 4.0 takes over from Lean, we can say goodbye to the philosophy of creating value without waste, because that’s what Lean is about: creating value without waste.

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Oct 9 2015

Interview video, in French

Last week, in Paris, Philip Marris invited me to attend his seminar on Critical Chain Project Management, which I found enlightening. At the end of the day, Christian Hohmann asked me to sit with him for an interview that he posted on the Marris Consulting youtube channel. Warning: it’s in French.

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