To round up our tour of a van full of nerds to study Industry 4.0 in Germany, here is the report on different presentations and tryouts. These were not plant visits, but different demonstrations by some smaller and one not-so-small (Bosch) companies. The first four were at the Arena 2036, a research collaboration to explore the future of the automobile. The other three were at the respective companies locations. Also quite insightful. Continue reading Industry 4.0 Tour in Germany – A Van Full of Nerds – Presentations and Tryouts →

As part of our van full of nerds tour through southern Germany to study Industry 4.0, we also visited two companies, Kärcher and Siemens. Siemens is probably well known to all of you. We went to their Amberg plant where they make programmable logic controllers.  Kärcher is a smaller company that makes pressure washers and industrial cleaning machines. Let me show you what we found. Continue reading Industry 4.0 Tour in Germany – A Van Full of Nerds – Kärcher and Siemens →

The first plant we visited as our van full of nerds touring southern Germany to study Industry 4.0 was the Bosch wafer fab RtP1 in Reutlingen. Quite impressive. Let me show you what we found: Continue reading Industry 4.0 Tour in Germany – A Van Full of Nerds – Bosch Reutlingen Wafer Fab →

As one of the stops on our van full of nerds touring southern Germany to study Industry 4.0, we also visited Trumpf. However, we didn’t go to the main plant in Ditzingen but to a much-smaller plant in Gerlingen that makes stamping tools. I have heard a lot of good things about Trumpf Gerlingen, and wanted to see if it is true. Let’s find out: Continue reading Industry 4.0 Tour in Germany – A Van Full of Nerds – Trumpf Gerlingen →

In this second post of the series on our van full of nerds touring southern Germany to study Industry 4.0, we will look at ABB Stotz-Kontakt in Heidelberg. Quite an impressive plant! Let me show you: Continue reading Industry 4.0 Tour in Germany – A Van Full of Nerds – ABB Stotz-Kontakt →

Recently I organized a non-commercial Industry 4.0 tour for some friends through my university, the Karlsruhe University of Applied Science. For the first week in July 2019, we rented a van and toured southern Germany. We visited fourteen different locations in five days to understand the current state of Industry 4.0 in Germany. Almost all of these locations were Industry 4.0 award-winning enterprises. However, our assessment of Industry 4.0 often differed from these awards. Since we all come from the lean corner, we often have a different outlook on things than people who specialize in Industry 4.0. Let me give you an overview of our tour: Continue reading Industry 4.0 Tour in Germany – A Van Full of Nerds – Overview and Audi →