Exploit the untapped potential of digital ecosystems in the manufacturing industry

Market opportunities are immense due to the price decrease for data storage and the multiple options to analyze and interpret data facilitated by innovations from start-ups. 

If manufacturers fail to take advantage of the digitization that comes along with the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0, they will lose competitive edge. Manufacturers need to optimize performance, availability, and outcome in their production lines by utilizing the information their data sets offer. For several years now, start-ups have been tackling the manufacturing sector and trying to create the industry of the future by innovating manufacturing analytics. They receive large VC investments but at the same time, they struggle in adapting their solutions in the real world – the existing production lines in the manufacturing sector.  

Exploiting the potential of the manufacturing sector requires a change in perspective from lone fighters to co-creation and from single islands to connected ecosystems

In ecosystems, people, data, processes, and things are connected to enable faster and more flexible collaboration and the utilization of data. Besides the technical side the human side of co-creation is crucial for creating sustainable and efficient innovations. Today, the co-creation of manufacturers and start-ups is limited and still not profitable or both sides. Startups struggle with non-paid pilots, successful large enterprise sales and end up selling technology based on simulation data or rewind in endless pitches on corporate start-up safaris. Manufacturers cringe to work with start-ups and solutions based on simulation models. They are afraid of wrong investments or not being able to adapt a use case to their ongoing processes. In the end, they still tend to choose the fallback option from large established software companies with the downside of huge investments and immense implementation times. 

The digital manufacturing market needs to become faster and smarter in the way it uses the assets that already exist. By drawing new lines between players, such as manufacturers and start-ups, the co-creation ecosystems can be created. Using the century of experience in manufacturing and connecting it with start-up technologies enables a fast efficiency and sustainability increase in the whole sector.  

Manufacturers receive the chance to jump on the speedboat of the Körber Digital team and keep up with today’s and tomorrow’s challenges

Körber Digital takes over this responsibility by becoming the vehicle to gain speed and trust in co-creation ecosystems. It connects those two worlds to exploit the potential of the market efficiently. Körber Digital’s role in building up manufacturing ecosystem is becoming the enabler for innovative manufacturers to find digital solutions to specified problems that accelerate efficiency and sustainability. 

Benefits for start-ups:  

• A valuable program to learn enterprise sales 

• Access to real-life data  

• Faster product-/market-fit

Benefits for manufacturers: 

• Tailored matchmaking of the right solution for a specified problem  

• Trustful support in the process of integration  

• Limited risks and costs for technology implementation

The program developed by Körber Digital aims to create the ecosystem for efficient and sustainable digital manufacturing solutions in the smart way of co-creation between manufacturers and start-ups. Bringing together the digital expertise from own innovation activities and the strong and trustful network of enterprise customers, Körber Digital functions as the vehicle to implement fast and efficient digital solutions in existing production lines.