Industry 4.0: The Future of Indo-German Industrial Collaboration

Industry 4.0 can be described as the fourth industrial revolution, a mega- trend that affects every company around the world. It envisions interconnections and collaboration between people, products and machines within and across enterprises. Why does Industry 4.0 make for an excellent platform for industrial collaboration between India and Germany? The answers lie in economic as well as social factors. Both countries have strengths and weakness and strategic collaboration using the principles of Industry 4.0 can help both increase their industrial output, GDP and make optimal use of human resources. As a global heavy weight in manufacturing and machine export, Germany has a leading position in the development and deployment of Industry 4.0 concepts and technology. However, its IT sector, formed by a labor force of 800,000 employees, is not enough. It needs more professionals to reach its full potential. India, on the other hand, is a global leader in IT and business process outsourcing. But its manufacturing industry needs to grow significantly and compete globally. These realities clearly show the need for Industry 4.0-based collaboration between Germany and India. So how does Industry 4.0 work? In a first step, we look at the technical pers- pective – the vertical and horizontal integration of Industry 4.0 principles in enterprises. Vertical integration refers to operations within Smart Factories and horizontal integration to Smart Supply Chains across businesses. In the second step, we look at manufacturing, chemical industry and the IT sector as potential targets for collaboration between the two countries. We use case studies to illustrate the benefits of the deployment of Industry 4.0. Potential collaboration patterns are discussed along different forms of value chains and along companies’ ability to achieve Industry 4.0 status. We analyse the social impact of Industry 4.0 on India and Germany and find that it works very well in the coming years. Germany with its dwindling labor force might be compensated through the automation. This will ensure continued high productivity levels and rise in GDP. India, on the other hand has a burgeoning labor market, with 10 million workers annually entering the job market. Given that the manufacturing sector will be at par with Europe in efficiency and costs by 2023, pressure on India’s labor force will increase even more. Even its robust IT sector will suffer fewer hires because of increased automation. Rapid development of technologies – for the Internet of Things (IoT) or for connectivity like Low-Power WAN – makes skilling and reskilling of the labor force critical for augmenting smart manufacturing. India and Germany have been collaborating at three levels relevant to Industry 4.0 – industry, government and academics. How can these be taken forward? The two countries have a long history of trade. The Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) is the largest such chamber in India and the largest German chamber worldwide. VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau, Mechanical Engineering Industry Association), the largest industry association in Europe, maintains offices in India. Indian key players in IT, in turn, have subsidia- ries in Germany and cooperate with German companies in the area of Industry 4.0. Collaboration is also supported on governmental level. As government initiatives go, India has launched the “Make in India” initiative and the “Make in India Mittelstand! (MIIM)” programme as a part of it. The Indian Government is also supporting “smart manufacturing” initiatives in a major way. Centers of Excellence driven by the industry and academic bodies are being set up. Germany and India have a long tradition of research collaboration as well. Germany is the second scientific collaborator of India and Indian students form the third largest group of foreign students in Germany. German institutions like the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) or the German House for Research and Innovation (DWIH) are working to strengthen ties between the scientific communities of the two countries, and between their academia and industry. What prevents Industry 4.0 from becoming a more widely used technology? Recent surveys in Germany and India show that awareness about Industry 4.0 is still low, especially among small and medium manufacturing enterprises. IT companies, on the other hand, are better prepared. There is a broad demand for support, regarding customtailored solutions, information on case studies and the willingness to participate in Industry 4.0 pilot projects and to engage in its platform and networking activities. We also found similar responses at workshops conducted with Industry 4.0 stakehold- ers in June 2017 in Bangalore and Pune and in an online survey. What can be done to change this? Both countries should strengthen their efforts to create awareness for Industry 4.0, especially among small and medium enterprises. Germany should also put more emphasis on making their Industry 4.0 technology known to the Indian market. India’s IT giants, on the other hand, should make their Industry 4.0 offers more visible to the German market. The governments should support the establishing of joint Industry 4.0 collaboration platforms, centers of excellence and incubators to ease the dissemination of knowledge and technology. On academic level, joint research programs and exchange programs should be set up to foster the skilling of labor force in the deployment of Industry 4.0 methods and technologies

Identity in information systems

Open Process Innovation – drawing from the literature on Open Innovation and Business Process Management (BPM) – promotes the study of how to systematically make use of knowledge that lies outside of an organization’s boundaries for process innovation initiatives. Open Innovation has been heavily studied for product innovation, however, process innovation has not yet been researched from such perspective. Against this background, we seek to investigate into variables that impact on the qualities of Open Process Innovation taking the example of the public sector domain. This paper examines how personnel resource scarcity exerts influence on the involvement of i) customers (here citizens and local companies) and ii) consultants (here management and software consultants) in public sector BPM. Our multi-method analysis shows that personnel resource scarcity has consequences for BPM-related collaboration schema as it restricts the involvement of customers. Based on our findings, implications for theory and practice are discussed, including implications for studies on BPM maturity or on business process design. We call for a governance-theory perspective on process innovation as a fundamental basis for understanding and designing the institutions that shape collaboration in open process innovation

Open Innovation and Public Sector Business Process Management – A Multi-Method Study

Open Process Innovation provides a framework for studying how to systematically make use of knowledge that lies outside of an organization’s boundaries for process innovation initiatives. Here, we seek to investigate into variables that impact on the qualities of Open Process Innovation taking the example of the public sector domain. This paper examines how a lack of resources impacts on BPM. Specifically in investigates how personnel resource scarcity exerts influence on the involvement of i) customers (here citizens and local companies) and ii) consultants (here management and software consultants) in public sector BPM. Our multi-method analysis shows that personnel resource scarcity has consequences for BPM-related collaboration schema as it restricts the involvement of customers. Based on our findings, implications for theory and practice are discussed, including implications for studies on BPM maturity or on business process design. We call for a governancetheory perspective on process innovation as a fundamental basis for understanding and designing the institutions that shape collaboration in open process innovation

INTEGRATION VERSUS DEDICATION IN ROMANIAN MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SYSTEMS

The technologies supporting future business must be intuitive from a user standpoint, flexible from design standpoint and highly productive. As an answer to many requirements, analysts recommend the inclusion of SOA and ESB in the IT management strategies, since these tend to become mainstream, overcoming their abstract vision status in the last decade. In this paper, we provide a study regarding the attitude of companies from north-western Romania with respect to this transition and the SOA&ESB models. Our analysis targets attributes such as: level of understanding, knowledge and concern in adopting such technologies, the management involvement in the company IT strategy, the added value of the new technologies and risk factors for the migration towards an SOA&ESB architecture.integration,enterprise applications,web applications,SOA,ESB,framework

Business Process Management and the Need for Measurements - including an empirical study about operating figures

Problem: Since business process management (BPM) is a very spacious concept, it is influenced from many other concepts, standards and methods that determine its constancy. Companies are asked to restructure their organisation in order to meet internal and external customer demands. The term quality comes to the fore. Organisations such as ISO and the EFQM try to certify or assess companies in terms of the course of their qualitative business processes but do not provide them with helpful implementation tools. One task will be to look at these approaches in a critical perspective in order to assess them with regard to BPM. Further, a company’s performance has to be assessed not only from a one-dimensional perspective. Hence operating figures have to be derived that cover a multi-dimensional assessment perspective in order to show if they meet internal as well as external customer demands. Thus, another task is to assess existing measurement systems with regard to BPM and to show how companies can control and monitor their business process in a better, more effective way. Purpose: The purpose is seen in a processing and comparison of different management concepts and methods in order to present an embracing picture within the area of BPM. The need for measurements will be emphasized, existing performance measurement systems towards BPM analysed and the concept of process controlling presented. In the end a rather practical guideline for the derivation of operating figures will be conceived to overcome acceptance problems SME might have. Several strategic and organisational related hypotheses in the field of operating figures will be investigated that support this approach. The evaluation takes place on the basis of empirical findings within a study of SME but also with help of existing theories. Methodology: This research is based on a combination of the systems and actors approach supplied with quantitative as well as qualitative data, which is collected in form of a questionnaire and via participation on a workshop within the so-called be.st (benchmarking for sustainability) project. This master thesis is conducted as an abductive study. As a consequence, reliability and validity are provided. Conclusions: References and adaptabilities of existing management approaches and measurement systems are pointed out. The further focus lies in an efficient and effective monitoring of business processes in the sense of BPM. On the hypotheses it is dwelled on, most notably on the re-use of operating figures and the most effective derivation method for operating figures- the top-down approach. The role of the management comes hereby to the fore. Findings of the empirical study are presented as well, in relation to the theory. A practical guideline for the derivation and re-use of operating figures and an embracing picture of BPM, its related areas and investigated companies is conceived in the end

Improving the quality of process reference models: A quality function deployment-based approach

Little academic work exists on managing reference model development and measuring reference model quality, yet there is a clear need for higher quality reference models. We address this gap by developing a quality management and measurement instrument. The foundation for the instrument is the well-known Quality Function Deployment (QFD) approach. The QFD-based approach incorporates prior research on reference model requirements and development approaches. Initial evaluation of the instrument is carried out with a case study of a logistic reference process. The case study reveals that the instrument is a valuable tool for the management and estimation of reference model quality

Network e-Volution

Modern society is a network society permeated by information technology (IT). As a result of innovations in IT, enormous amounts of information can be communicated to a larger number of recipients faster than ever before. The evolution of networks is heavily influenced by the extensive use of IT, which has enabled co-evolving advanced quantitative and qualitative forms of networking. Although several networks have been formed with the aim to reduce or deal with uncertainty through faster and broader access to information, it is in fact IT that has created new kinds of uncertainty. For instance, although digital information integration in supply chains has made production planning more robust, it has at the same time intensified mutual dependencies, thereby actually increasing the level of uncertainty. The aim of this working paper is to investigate the aspects of evolving networks and uncertainty in networks at the cutting edges of different types of networks and from the perspective of different layers defining these networks

Conceiving Adaptability for Business Models: A Literature-based Approach

A rapidly changing economy and peer pressure amongst competitors lead business to continuously reconsider and readjust their current business models. Thus, business models must be flexible and adaptive towards external changes and should be controlled and managed dynamically. This paper develops a conceptual framework for adaptive business models, which enables decision makers in strategy and IT management to intertwine business models with strategy and business processes, in order to analyze the complex relationships amongst these different description levels of an enterprise. Based on the core elements of business models, the interplay of these elements with aspects from enterprise strategy and business processes are investigated and potentials for IT innovations are being identified to live up to the vision of adaptive business models. For each of the innovations, key measures are considered and improvement possibilities within an enterprise’s IT infrastructure are being identified. The paper concludes with an outlook on possible implementations and future research

S-BPM in the Wild

This is the first book to present field studies on the application of subject-oriented business process management (S-BPM). Each case presents a specific story and focuses on an essential modeling or implementation issue, and most end with implications or suggestions for further studies. Significant variables and success factors are identified that were discovered during the respective study and lead to suggesting S-BPM novelties. For each case, the authors explain step-by-step how the story develops, and provide readers guidance by detailing the respective rationale. The studies covered are clustered according to three main S-BPM themes: Part I “Business Operation Support” documents approaches to the practical development of S-BPM solutions in various application domains and organizational settings, while Part II “Consultancy and Education Support” highlights cases that can help to train readers in S-BPM modeling and knowledge acquisition for S-BPM lifecycle iterations. It also refers to architecting S-BPM solutions for application cases based on hands-on experience. Part III “Technical Execution Support” focuses on concepts for utilizing specific theories and technologies to execute S-BPM models. It also addresses how to create reference models for certain settings in the field. Lastly, the appendix covers all relevant aspects needed to grasp S-BPM modeling and apply it based on fundamental examples. Its format reconciles semantic precision with syntactic rigor.>Addressing the needs of developers, educators and practitioners, this book will help companies to learn from the experiences of first-time users and to develop systems that fit their business processes, explaining the latest key methodological and technological S-BPM developments in the fields of training, research and application