Opinion
Dare to invest
My life as a technology journalist takes place in two worlds, both of which are extremely fascinating and yet often too far apart. One world is the factories and plants in which the industry manufactures its products day after day, where cables break and employees are absent; suppliers dawdle and budgets are exhausted - and yet in the end the goods are lifted onto the truck on time and in perfect quality.
The other world is made up of top scientific research institutes and top manufacturers with their technological innovations. A brilliant, networked world in which errors are automatically identified long before they occur. In which the technical managers buy functions for their applications from the app store and batch size 1 is the rule.
At trade fairs such as Motek in October or SPS this month, both worlds meet and look at each other with longing: Some would like to support their workers with the latest generation of cobots or bridge gaps in the automated production chain with driverless transport systems or multi-axis robots, or even the big, seamless Industry 4.0 solution. The others would like to deliver exactly that.
What stands between the two worlds? Mostly a banal cost-benefit calculation: Industry 4.0 means a generational change in technical equipment. The existing orders can still be processed with the old equipment and the contribution margins for the coming quarters have become uncertain. Is this the right time to invest considerable sums in a generational change? There is no simple answer to this question, only a guess. And that is: yes, it is worth taking the plunge now. Now that growth is taking a break. Now that the shortage of skilled workers is becoming noticeable and, above all, now that customers need completely new products.
There are quite a few who have taken this step. I'm already looking forward to interesting new systems. Please let us know!
Daniel Schilling
Editor-in-chief handling
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