Machinery and plant engineering in Germany is characterized by small and medium-sized enterprises. The so-called backbone of German industry is in transition towards Industry 4.0, with systems becoming more complex and the development task becoming an interdisciplinary task. Systems Engineering is a proven approach to realize these systems. Projects with SE approaches were accompanied and potentials of SE were structured. In this paper, we discuss the need for action for the company-wide introduction and present a solution concept.

The introduction of Systems Engineering is an approach for dealing with the increasing complexity of products and their associated product development. Several introduction strategies are available in the literature; nevertheless, the introduction of Systems Engineering into practice still poses a great challenge to companies. Many companies have already gained experience in the introduction of Systems Engineering. Therefore, as part of the SE4OWL research project, the need to conduct a study including expert interviews and to collect the experiences of experts was identified. A total of 78 hypotheses were identified from 13 expert interviews concerning the lessons learned. Using exclusion criteria, 52 hypotheses were validated in a subsequent quantitative survey with 112 participants. Of these 52 hypotheses, 40 could be confirmed based on the survey results. Only four hypotheses were rejected, and eight could neither be confirmed nor rejected. Through this research, guidance is provided to companies to leverage best practices for the introduction of their own Systems Engineering and to avoid the poor practices of other companies.

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