Accordingly, developments relating to digitalization, big data and the Internet of Things will continue to have an impact on industries and will have an even greater influence on products and solutions in the field of sensor technology. Captron also expects that increasing individualization will influence manufacturing processes and significantly change the way industrial customers make purchasing decisions.

• Every sensor is a measuring device and collects a wide range of data such as the degree of soiling, functionality or outside temperature. In the future, IoT and machine learning will ensure that such information can be used even better in the operation of individual components through to complex machines. In the medium term, sensors connected in series will share learned data with each other and react more quickly to external conditions. It will also be possible to feed capacitive sensors with external data.
  
  
• Individual solutions will continue to gain in importance. End customers are already relying less and less on standardized products. The reasons for this range from personal preferences and CI specifications to industry-specific guidelines, for example with regard to the obligation to provide feedback or provisions for barrier-free use.
  
  
• Above all, individualization influences existing production processes. Instead of focusing exclusively on large-scale projects, many manufacturers must be able to handle orders from a batch size of one. End customers also expect short delivery times. Autonomous ordering processes via EDI interfaces, which link the customer's ERP system with the manufacturer's, will become even more established over the course of the year and reduce both the time required and the error rate.
  
  
• Digital service convenience is becoming more important. This is due to changes in the customer experience: decision-making processes take less time and there are fewer points of contact between manufacturers and customers. In the medium term, digital product configurators and online content will at least largely replace technical advice over the phone and enable end users to design their own customized capacitive sensors.

"In the new year, it will be particularly interesting to see how the megatrends of digitalization, big data and the Internet of Things become even more established in individual sectors and among customers," says Philip Bellm, Managing Director of Captron. "Captron is already positioned for these developments: A new generation of sensor probes will enable new IoT applications and can be flexibly adapted to customer requirements. We are also working on software to make it even easier for customers to customize their products."