Hannah Betz & Mohammad Farahani
Betz is Manager Strategy & Innovation, Farahani is the Technical Director of Betz-Chrom GmbH, Gräfelfing
Interview: Heinz Käsinger
Mr. Farahani, what does a production data and machine data acquisition system do - and what are these systems good for?
Mohammad Farahani: A production data and machine data acquisition system, I'll just say PDA or MES for short, increases transparency in production. The digitalization of processes helps us to streamline logistics and production and make workflows more effective.
Digitization around Industry 4.0 is currently a big topic in the economy.
Hannah Betz: We have indeed seen the need for a PDA or MES for years. However, the complexity of such a project and the financial and resource-related costs have always put us off.
What motivated you to tackle the task now?
Hannah Betz: We came across the Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Center Augsburg at an event at the Nokia Digital Creativity Lab in Munich. We then immediately applied for a potential analysis there.
How did the process continue?
Hannah Betz: The potential analysis led to specific recommendations for action. Building on this, a follow-up project was then launched, during which the experts from Mittelstand 4.0 at the Technical University of Munich and Fraunhofer IGCV conducted interviews with employees and analyzed production-related and logistical processes. This was followed by workshops with the management and the project team.
"A shitty process ends up in a shitty digital process"
Where are you today?
Mohammad Farahani: An important insight for us was that processes need to be critically examined for weaknesses long before they are digitized. Or, in other words: If you digitize a shitty process, you'll end up with a shitty digital process. And even during the preparation process, it is important to work out which functions of a new system must have priority for a company and which requirements need to be met. This prevents you from getting bogged down and distracted by cool but perhaps unnecessary features. At the end of the process, an individual specification sheet was created that exactly meets our needs. We then used these specifications to search for a provider. With the support of the competence center, we also created an evaluation matrix to structure our decision-making process. We are currently reviewing the offers and will make a decision in the coming weeks.
What advice would you give to other SMEs who are considering a PDA-MES?
Hannah Betz: Of course, we can only speak for ourselves. But basically there is little to consider. For example, the companies must agree to the example being reported on. In addition, the company supported in this way must not be too large; I believe that a company must not have more than 500 employees.
And the security?
Hannah Betz: There were no problems with the collaboration here either. All internal company information and data is of course treated with absolute confidentiality.
ABOUT THE PERSON
Hannah Betz & Mohammad Farahani Digitalization under the sign of the rhinoceros. The pachyderm is the company symbol of Betz-Chrom GmbH
