Smartify the Industry 4.0 Way

Kaeser, a market-leading manufacturer of compressed air equipment, offers this new, IoT-based business model as Compressed Air as a Service. Customers pay only for the compressed air they consume. These as-a-service models originated in the software industry. Applications are frequently no longer installed on the user’s computer; they are provided via the Internet as a service from the cloud. In much the same way, Kaeser, Heidelberger & Co. no longer sell products first and foremost; they sell comprehensive services.

They are good examples of “smartification,” which makes products intelligent by means of networking and bonds users closer to the manufacturer via additional services. In industrial production the generic term is smart manufacturing, often also known in Germany as Industry 4.0. This trend goes back to the typical customer experience in the private customer sector, where the user-centered approach means, for example, ease of interaction with the customer via, say, Web shops or smartphone apps (see chart).

Networking via the IoT means more than adding B2B services to products, however. Heidelberger Druck AG, for example, can deduce from machine data other information such as the printing company’s capacity utilization. It has used this data to launch an information service, the Print Industry Climate Index. It analyzes anonymized data from about 5,000 customers in different segments of the print media industry around the world. It primarily reflects the output of commercial printers and printing machinery in packaging and logistics.

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen developed this free service at the request of a number of customers. They wanted to know which market segments and countries were affected especially strongly by the corona crisis. It clearly indicates the potential of data-based business models that build on connecting products. Supplementary services such as monitoring of plant and machinery are especially effective, but pure data products are possible in many instances, as Heidelberger’s offering demonstrates.

Using Internet of Things solutions, the transformation from a pure producer to a manufacturing service provider will also succeed. Discover the areas in which we can support you with our solutions and how successful companies are already using the IoT for themselves today.