Mechanical Engineering Relies On Digitization

The VDMA IT Report 2016 for mechanical and plant engineering provides an up-to-date insight into investment projects and the assessment of IT trend topics. A total of 100 companies from the industry took part in the survey carried out in the summer and show that in connection with the general desire for digitization, the importance of the trend topics has increased again.

IT investments set new priorities

Compared to the previous VDMA IT studies, mechanical engineering companies are now setting new priorities with their current investment plans up to 2018. For example, editorial and content management systems for technical product documentation, for example, which used to be found on the back investment ranks, have now moved up to the top. Solutions for machine data acquisition (MDE) are also the focus of the industry due to numerous Industry 4.0 projects and increasing digitalization in production. The same applies to training and further education, because e-learning solutions not only facilitate the transfer of knowledge for employees on site, but above all worldwide.Web shops and digital spare parts catalogs climbed among the ten most frequently mentioned investment areas for the first time in 2014 and are expected to increase their use in mechanical engineering by 2018 with a new investment share of around 60%. The same applies to document management, CRM and business intelligence systems. Around 50% of the projects being considered are new launches.

App applications are establishing themselves

The comparatively rapid increase in the importance of apps in the industrial environment has continued. In 2014, the smart “software assistants” were only relevant for around 42% of the companies surveyed, so this year it is already 76% according to the VDMA. Apps are even of medium to very high importance for business processes for around half of these companies, which is also reflected in the applications. Because more than 50% of the machine builders surveyed use external or internally developed apps. Except for the area of ​​corporate IT (ERP, CRM), which remained almost unchanged, all other fields of application were able to increase their share of use compared to 2014. In corporate publishing, webshop / catalog,Engineering and production and service the apps developed in-house further expanded their lead over the external offers.

Cloud solutions are permanently changing the IT landscape

After the initially reserved readiness for use, cloud solutions have become established in mechanical engineering. This is due, among other things, to the extensive range on the market, the improved technical requirements and the increased need for quickly deployable solutions. More than 80% of the machine builders surveyed now attach importance to this topic for the company. Cloud solutions are even of medium to very high importance for half of the companies. Overall, the share of use in all application areas has increased compared to 2014. Applicant management (+83%), office applications (+59%) and CRM solutions (+51%) recorded the highest increase. The "Private Clouds" have expanded their lead over the "Public Clouds" in several areas.A further increase in the use of cloud solutions can be expected for the next two years, as the companies' plans make clear.

Big data applications are just beginning

Even though big data (analytics) has been discussed a lot in connection with Industry 4.0, the companies are still at the beginning. However, the topic is already of medium to very high importance for every second mechanical engineering company. The first applications are already in use. A total of 16% of the machine builders surveyed use corresponding solutions. Service and maintenance are trailblazers with a share of 10%. Production (8%), logistics (4%) and marketing (3%) followed in the other places. The relatively small proportion of applications today will increase significantly in the next two years. Around a quarter of those surveyed are planning corresponding introductions by 2018. (kj)

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File: VDMA statement IT report