With a clear plan to success

© Fraunhofer IPA/Photo: Adobe Stock

Many companies are experimenting with digital solutions. But often, it remains at individual pilot projects with questionable benefits. In a white paper, a team of authors from Fraunhofer IPA therefore shows how companies can implement digitalization projects step by step with a clear goal.

Questions need to be clarified, inventories checked, drawings created, and prices calculated: Often, several days pass before a sales representative processes a customer inquiry and prepares a corresponding offer. All steps of the quotation process could be automated if the necessary data were available in digital form and if standardized processes existed.

»Indeed, missing data is one of the most common reasons why the implementation of digitalization solutions and artificial intelligence fails in small and medium-sized enterprises«, says Erwin Groß, Business Segment Manager IoT Infrastructure and -Technology/Cyber-Physical Products at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and Automation IPA. »But often, there is simply no clear plan: a digitalization solution is purchased, and only afterward is it considered what could be done with it. Or there are so many application ideas that one hopelessly gets sidetracked.« No wonder, then, that 50 to 90 percent of all digitalization projects get stuck in the testing phase.

How to get started

In their white paper »Successful Introduction of Digitalization and AI Use Cases in Production – The Recipe«, Groß and other authors from Fraunhofer IPA describe a structured, step-by-step approach for implementing digitalization solutions and artificial intelligence, reminiscent of a cooking recipe. According to this, companies should start with a concrete goal, then select suitable application cases, implement them gradually, test in pilot operation, and finally transfer to regular operation. An important aspect is the perspective shift: not the technology is the focus, but the problem in production that needs to be solved.

Those who approach the digital age in a structured and planned manner not only minimize the risk of failure but also reach their goal faster and soon recognize a measurable benefit: Quotation creation no longer takes days but perhaps only a few minutes because artificial intelligence can gather, evaluate, and compile the necessary information much faster for the customer.

Those who do not digitize today will be left behind tomorrow

»Digitalization and artificial intelligence bring a noticeable boost in productivity, reduce costs, increase quality, improve utilization, and mitigate the effects of the skilled labor shortage«, says Groß, adding: »Those who do not start digitalizing now increase the risk of being completely left behind in just a few years.«

The white paper »Successful Introduction of Digitalization and AI Use Cases in Production – The Recipe« is available for free download: https://www.ipa.fraunhofer.de/de/Publikationen/studien/erfolgreiche_einfuehrung_von_digitalisierungs_und_ki_use_cases_in_der_produktion__das_kochrezept.html