Case studies of companies that have successfully implemented Industry 4.0 technologies and practices.

The future of work remains uncertain, as many of us have discovered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses had to ramp up their efforts to market their products and services on a digitalized platform to sustain their business growth. Many establishments that do not take the route of digitalizing their product and service offerings eventually suffered from the economic hardships of COVID-19. Among the devastating effects that the pandemic had on businesses were organizations having to cease operations, cutting down on their manpower, or going through severe financial constraints due to a lack of funds and budget cuts.

While many organizations suffered through the pandemic, there were a select few organizations that prevailed and thrived during the pandemic due to their adoption of innovative IR 4.0 tools and technologies. For these organizations, digital transformation through the incorporation of Industry 4.0 technologies and practises contributes to the success of their employees as well as the harnessing of their customer relationships. Let’s explore two companies that successfully implemented Industry 4.0 technologies and practices.

Case studies of companies that thrived through implementing Industry 4.0 technologies and practices.

Renault Digital: A Digital Center of Excellence

In January 2017, Renault Group set up Renault Digital, an independent but fully owned subsidiary, with the sole objective of supporting the group to achieve its digital transformation objectives.

According to the Digital Transformation People website, this center of excellence provides all the skills needed to execute digital, agile projects. As of April 2020, it consisted of more than 350 employees with skills and knowledge in Agile methodologies, UX Design, DevOps, and Data Science.

For each project request that they get from the business units, they would set up an agile team, that is composed of subject matter experts from the business unit as well as specialists from the center of excellence.

It was critical to begin building success stories after Renault established their digital unit. Since Renault has a lot of staff working on their production plant, it was only natural that they tried to find how digitalization could provide value to their employees. Project CHUET was the first success story. Back in the day, plant unit managers had to manage teams of 10-12 people but faced the challenge of constantly having to run back and forth to their office computer to get the latest updates on how production had to be tuned and adjusted.

By installing wi-fi connectivity in their plants and developing a bespoke mobile office solution for their unit managers, they were able to save 45 minutes a day of ineffective time. The productivity was evident, and job satisfaction among unit managers was notable, as they could now work with their mobile office tablets and have access to real-time product data whenever they needed it.

Connecting equipment helped unit managers, but connecting machines and robots also allowed them to create value in other areas. Predictive maintenance is one of the areas that has reduced expensive downtime due to machine failures, which can now be avoided or, at the very least, have their probability reduced. Renault has put more than 2,000 Lora sensors in place to collect data from their equipment.

Siemens Electronic Works Amberg (EWA)

According to Yeeply, Siemens is one of the most prominent companies that has benefited from incorporating Industry 4.0 tools and technologies and has set the standard when it comes to revolutionising Industry 4.0 technologies and practices.

One of its most outstanding achievements is Siemens Electronic Works Amberg (EWA), a factory that Siemens runs in Amberg (Germany).

Siemens manufactures several products, including around 17 million units of Simatic PLCS (programmable logic controllers) every year. These devices are used to control factories and machinery and automate industrial production. However, what is remarkable is that the factory’s production itself is controlled by around 2,800 of these devices.

This enables having an automated production process that is controlled by robots and machines to an extent of 75%. Not only that, but EWA’s manufacturing quality standard is exceptional, with an impressive 99.9% achievement rate, a feat well worth noting when setting the standard in industrial manufacturing.