Strategic Target System to Select Digitalization Measures in Manufacturing Companies

Abstract

Manufacturing companies face the challenge of selecting digitalization measures that fit their strategy. Measures that are initiated and not aligned with the company's strategy carry the risk of failing due to lack of relevance. This leads to an ineffective use of scarce human and financial resources. This paper presents a target system to help companies select relevant digitalization measures compliant with their strategy for IT-OT-integration projects. The target system was developed based on literature research and expert interviews, and later validated in two use cases. The target system considers the goals of production companies and combines them with digitalization measures. The measures are classified by different maturity levels required for their realization. Thus, the target system enables manufacturing companies to evaluate digitalization measures with regards to their strategic relevance and the required Industrie 4.0 maturity level for their realization. This ensures an effective use of resources.

Collaboration Through Digital Integration – An Overview of IT-OT-Integration Use-Cases and Requirements

“…This ensures the alignment of a company's strategic goals with its current situation. IT-OT-Integration refers to the interconnection of IT-and OT-Systems [10,11]. The term, IT-System refers to the office floor systems of an enterprise such as: ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) [10,12].…”

“…IT-OT-Integration refers to the interconnection of IT-and OT-Systems [10,11]. The term, IT-System refers to the office floor systems of an enterprise such as: ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) [10,12]. OT-System refers to the shop floor systems such as machines, scales, scanners and sensors, but also the software included for controlling them, such as MES (Manufacturing Execution System) [10,12].…”

“…The term, IT-System refers to the office floor systems of an enterprise such as: ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) [10,12]. OT-System refers to the shop floor systems such as machines, scales, scanners and sensors, but also the software included for controlling them, such as MES (Manufacturing Execution System) [10,12]. For structural reasons, MES is considered as an IT-System in terms of the methodology presented in this paper.…”

“…For structural reasons, MES is considered as an IT-System in terms of the methodology presented in this paper. In their previous work the authors presented a methodology for strategically selecting different digitalization measures [10]. Based on this work, this paper presents the next building blocks within the developed general IT-OT-Integration process.…”

“…Furthermore most enterprises' IT-OT-Landscape, meaning the existing IT-Systems, OT-Systems and interfaces, are very heterogeneous and companies are lacking transparency [8]. In addition, suitable methods for approaching a structured IT-OT-Integration process are missing [9,10].…”