Future Hub Hannover Messe and Industry 4.0 - THE TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE dialog - VDE
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02/2020
THE TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE
dialog
Future Hub
Hannover Messe
and Industry 4.0
Product testing & Certification The VDE-Institute has hundred years of experience in product safety. Trust in products with the VDE-Mark. § Building and supply technologies § Cables and cords § Commercial appliances § Components and installation technology § Consumer electronics § Household appliances § Industry 4.0 § Information technology § Lighting § Medical technology § Mobility and charging infrastructure § Power tools and garden appliances § Smart Home / Smart Living § Smart Metering www.vde.com/institute
EDITORIAL
No future without investments
Germany is still one of the leaders in production and automation technology. There are still
plenty of hidden champions among the medium-sized enterprises in our country. However,
Germany risks losing this position along the path to the industrial production of the future.
In the future, an economy’s ability to perform will depend greatly on the degree of digitiza-
tion and personal attitudes towards this. The US and China have a clear lead here, with huge
investments being made in digitization topics such as AI research and the associated startup
culture. The 5G race has already reached such speeds that it’s going to take a great leap for
Germany to catch up. This is not the way to achieve technological sovereignty!
So what do we need to do to retain or win back our sovereignty
in the field of technology? Solutions include massive investments
in training and further education that are unaffected by lobby-
“In the future, an economy’s ability
ing and in results-oriented research funding. Politics and busi- to perform will depend greatly on
ness need to step up their efforts and pull in the same direction its degree of digitization”
instead of complaining. This is not the way to work as a team to-
wards a common goal!
One of the most critical components for successful digitization is microelectronics. Master-
ing the entire value creation chain in this field is an essential prerequisite for claiming a strong
technological position on the global market. Chip design and production must take place in
Europe – there can be no avoiding “Europe first”. If we give up control of this cross-domain
knowledge, the only thing left for us will be a role as a dependent importer of key technolo-
gies. This is not the way to ensure innovative leadership!
And another thing: Schools, universities, training and further education institutions need
newly developed, flexible curricula, STEM didactics, and modern teaching methods. We must
not allow learners to be the victims of curricula that have been due for reform for years. This
PHOTOS: COVER: PINKYPILLS – ISTOCKPHOTO.COM; PAGE 03: VDE
is not the way to show educational leadership!
These are just a few reflections on urgently needed measures that would allow Germany
and “Made in Germany” to shine again. After all, we are currently experiencing what mo-
nopolistic dependence truly means in these times of the coronavirus. It has already caused
the postponement of the Hannover Messe – the focus of this issue – at short notice. Happy
reading and stay healthy!
Yours truly,
Ansgar Hinz, VDE CEO
03
CONTENTS
12
Future-oriented: The international industry will gather at the Hannover Messe under the slogan “Industrial Transformation” to share ideas in various future hubs about the
mega-trends in automation and energy technology en route to Industry 4.0.
32 27
Thumbs down: Until a few years ago, tech companies were seen as symbols of the Gameplay through thought control: The NextMind electrodes attached to the back
American entrepreneurial spirit. Today, though, criticism is growing. of the head measure brain activity and translate them into computer commands.
04
TITLE
12 HANNOVER MESSE
Once a year, everything at the
Hannover Messe revolves around
automation and energy technol-
ogy. The new focus topics at this TOPICS
year’s trade show are the new
mobile communications standard
5G and sustainability in the sense 27 CES LAS VEGAS
of environmental and climate The Consumer Electronics Show
SPECTRUM protection. in Las Vegas presents major tech-
nology trends as well a vast range
18 STARTUPS of curiosities.
06 DISPATCHES Industry 4.0 poses major chal-
Artificial intelligence/automotive lenges for many companies. Co- 30 NETWORK TECHNOLOGY
industry/algorithms/rail transport/ operating with innovative startups It doesn’t always have to be 5G.
deep learning/sensors/energy storage/ appears to be a clever strategy Alternative network technologies
battery production/electromobility that promises success. such as LoRa (Long Range) can
be the better choice for certain
07 PERSONALIA 22 3D PRINTING application areas.
Thomas Michael Koller/Hildegard To fully exploit the potential of
Müller/Lena Müller/Stefanie 3D printing for industrial manu- 32 CORPORATE POWER
Müller/Fralett Suarez Sandoval facturing processes and switch to Technology giants such as
this production track, we need to Facebook, Amazon, and Google
08 CHECKING IN think additively – right from the are finding themselves under
Is the development of the Gaia X design phase. increasing scrutiny from both
data cloud and the underlying politicians and antitrust authori-
initiative to create a separate, secure, 24 PARTNER COUNTRY ties – even on their home market
PHOTOS: PAGE 04: DEUTSCHE MESSE AG (TOP), ALPHASPIRIT – STOCK.ADOBE.COM (BOTTOM LEFT), NEXTMIND (BOTTOM RIGHT)
and trustworthy data infrastructure Indonesia, South-East Asia’s larg- in the United States.
for Europe the right path to take? est economy, is marching boldly
into the future. Based on the 34 CYBERSECURITY
11 INTERVIEW slogan “Making Indonesia 4.0”, Europe’s largest research center
The engineering and IT company President Joko Widodo has set for applied cybersecurity takes its
OSB maintains a unique, highly out an ambitious program. name from Athena, the goddess
creative startup culture. Board of of wisdom, strategy, and warfare.
Directors member Andreas Rottmair A visit to the site in Darmstadt,
explains why this calls for entrepre- Germany.
neurial spirit.
VDE GROUP
38 VDE GROUP
42 MEET THE VDE
05
SPECTRUM
AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
Smart carmakers
Good news for the automotive industry:
it has the edge over other sectors in the race
to build smart factories, and can look forward
to increased productivity.
In the next three years, the global automotive industry plans to in-
crease its investment in the building of intelligent factories by over
60 percent. This was one finding of a study by Capgemini. Build-
ing these smart factories could enable productivity increases to the
tune of more than $160 billion.
According to the plans of automobile manufacturers, 44 per-
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE cent of factories are to be converted into intelligent plants. This
puts the industry ahead of other sectors. The discrete manufac-
People made of turing sector (excluding automotive) plans to increase its share of
intelligent factories to 42 percent by 2025, followed by the pro-
bits and bytes cess industry with 41 percent, the energy and utility industry with
40 percent, and the consumer goods industry with 37 percent.
The Samsung subsidiary STAR “The automotive companies have made more progress than
Labs has developed digital avatars expected on their smart factory initiatives in the past two years
that are astoundingly human-like – and are now planning on pushing ahead even faster,” says Henrik
but for now they are still confined Ljungström, Executive Vice President for Automotive & Manu-
to screens. facturing at Capgemini in Germany. “However, this also means
that the automotive sector is now facing gaps in its talent pool, in
They look like real people and behave its technological strategy, and on the issue of scaling that need to
like us too: the “Neon” digital avatars be filled. That is the only way for them to capitalize fully on the
developed by STAR Labs. The com- advantages.”
pletely computer-generated figures The study surveyed 100 managers from large automotive man-
appear on a screen and can reputed- ufacturers and suppliers from 11 countries with revenue of more
ly react independently in real time, in- than $1 billion. The countries included Germany, the United
cluding the ability to show emotions States, Great Britain, France, India, and Japan.
and intelligence. According to STAR
Labs, the avatars can answer questions
within milliseconds. For now, users
still need a tablet in order to commu-
nicate with these simulated people. In
the future, though, this will be possible
through spoken language.
STAR Labs still uses human mod-
els to generate the figures. The models
are only scanned once, though, while
everything else is created digitally. The
Neon avatars could soon serve as vir-
tual assistants, such as in customer
service.
06
PERSONALIA
+++ 1 THOMAS MICHAEL KOLLER has been directing coupled equipment. +++ 4 STEFANIE MÜLLER also re-
VDE’s strategic and operative marketing, brand, and com- ceived a prize for her dissertation on the systematization
munications activities since the beginning of the year. He and identification of interference sources and occurrences
succeeded Walter Börmann, who has retired. Mr. Koller in historical video documentation. +++ 5 FRALETT
joined us from Siemens, where, as Senior Vice President of SUAREZ SANDOVAL was also recognized for her disser-
Corporate Communications, he led the strategic realign- tation, in which she demonstrated the suitability of
ment of brand management in preparation for an IPO in ad- magneto- inductive waves for efficient wireless energy
dition to other responsibilities. +++ 2 HILDE- transmission with free positioning of the receiver.
GARD MÜLLER is the new president of the Ger-
man Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA). 1 2 3
She has taken over from Bernhard Mattes, who
stepped down from the position at the end of
2019. Ms. Müller was previously COO for Grid &
Infrastructure at the energy provider innogy SE.
+++ The Dr. Wilhelmy VDE Prize annually recogniz-
es young engineers for outstanding dissertations
in the fields of electrical engineering and informa- 4 5
tion technology. One of this year’s prizewinners is
3 LENA MÜLLER, who examined altered system
dynamics resulting from the integration of inverter-
ALGORITHMS
Superpower based on the Lego Principle
A new algorithm is leaving mainframe computer systems in the dust.
PHOTOS: PAGE 6: STAR LABS (TOP), GORODENKOFF – STOCK.ADOBE.COM (BOTTOM); PAGE 07: VDE (1),
It makes it possible to solve complex tasks on a regular PC.
MIKURA VISUAL ARTS COLOGNE / VDE (2 – 5), CURVABEZIER – STOCK.ADOBE.COM (BOTTOM)
Scientists at the University of Mainz (JGU) and the
University of Lugano have developed a method for
reliably performing incredibly complex calculations
at low costs. In the future, tasks that have previous-
ly required a supercomputer could be solved with the
new algorithm on a normal PC according to Prof. Il-
lia Horenko, a computer expert at the University of
Lugano. Possible fields of application include weather
forecasting, classification problems in bioinformatics,
image analysis, and medical diagnostics. The method
is based on the Lego principle, where complex sys- surface temperatures in Europe for the coming day
tems are deconstructed into individual conditions or with a prediction error of only 0.75 degrees Celsius,”
patterns. With only a few patterns or components, the explains Prof. Susanne Gerber, a bioinformatics ex-
algorithm can analyze vast amounts of data and pre- pert at JGU. In relation to the error rate, the meth-
dict coming developments. “For example, we can use od is 40 percent better and significantly cheaper than
the algorithm to make a data-supported forecast of the usual computer systems used by weather services.
07
SPECTRUM
CLOUD SERVICES
The European Cloud RAIL TRANSPORT
There is a global trend towards isolation – especially regarding
China or the United States. This made the European data cloud
Made in
project Gaia X, initiated partly by the German Federal Ministry for
Economic Affairs and Energy as a reaction to this development, Rostock
a central topic of discussion at the VDE Tec Summit. Is this path The DB Cargo fleet is improving its
leading in the right direction?
CO₂ footprint with hybrid locomo-
tives. Toshiba has announced that
DR. ATTILA BILGIC, CEO, Krohne the trains will be built in Rostock,
There are more and more companies considering ex- Germany, starting in 2021.
tended services that invest in cloud-based services
or Software as a Service. Many industrial firms are Starting next year, the Japanese con-
developing their own solutions in this area, but they glomerate Toshiba will begin prepara-
are doing so using the backbone technologies from tions for the assembly of hybrid loco-
large providers such as Amazon Webservices. That motives at the DB Cargo maintenance
is reality. Doing something to change this will be very depot in Rostock. The rail freight
difficult. But that does not mean that it shouldn’t be company has already ordered 50 lo-
done. After all, as the nice saying goes: never give up. comotives and will rent an additional
50. Investments in the facility will lie
somewhere in the medium seven-dig-
DR. GUNTHER KEGEL, VDE President and CEO, it range.
Pepperl+Fuchs “With this technology, DB Cargo
The question is: can we still achieve this? Or is the is improving the CO₂ footprint of its
effort required simply too much? Might we be better fleet of shunting locomotives,” says Si-
advised to work on establishing more mutual trust grid Nikutta, DB Management Board
with our allies? We need to answer this question as Member for Freight Transport and
a society. Money is not the issue here. But do we re- CEO of DB Cargo. “We will reduce
ally want this, and is it only possible through the EU energy consumption by 30 percent
institutions? Gaia X is only the tip of the iceberg here. and save one million liters of diesel
I’m not saying that it’s impossible. But it comes with every year. Additionally, the vehicles
the precondition of a communal European effort. are also easier for our staff to operate
thanks to modern technology.”
The hybrid vehicles also offer the
ROLAND BENT, CTO, Phoenix Contact advantage of far lower maintenance
We must do the former, but we should still pursue the costs and higher average fleet availa-
latter. Of course we should keep working on the re- bility. Moreover, the battery modules
lationships with our allies in a positive manner. It has can receive additional external charg-
become clear in a dramatic way now that we as Euro- ing from the very beginning, further
peans are somewhat torn between the two big super- increasing the share of renewable en-
powers. This makes it crucial to build up a third pole ergy on the rails.
alongside the other two powers – a kind of EU++, to
borrow from computer jargon. That’s why I think we’re
taking the right step by building our own agenda in Eu-
rope and tackling a topic like Gaia X. But it all depends
on the level of political will behind the project.
08
DEEP LEARNING
Transparent
black box
It is a dilemma in the field of artificial intelligence: SENSORS
deep learning processes are not always rationally traceable.
The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)
is working on a solution to this.
Lifesavers from
the printer
The lack of traceability in the decision-making in deep learning
Nurses may soon be getting
PAGE 9: METAMORWORKS – STOCK.ADOBE.COM (BOTTOM), MOON LABS (TOP)
PHOTOS: PAGE 8: KROHNE (TOP), VDE (MIDDLE), PHOENIX CONTACT (BOTTOM);
processes is an acute hindrance to this technology being used in
safety-relevant areas, such as autonomous driving or in the med- assistance from an inconspicuous
ical field. In these fields, especially, there are particularly high de- sensor placed behind their
mands for reliability and trustworthiness.While deep-learning patients’ ears.
processes produce quick results that cannot be rationally substan-
tiated, classic symbolic calculations reach traceable, mathematical- The Norwegian startup Moon Labs
ly correct results – but they do take more time to achieve. has developed a sensor called Evo that
In the Fast&Slow project, DFKI scientists are now examining continuously records important pa-
how the two methods can be combined for more decision trans- tient health data. The sensor is pro-
parency. The first step defines problems that can be solved with duced using 3D printing technology
both approaches, such as planning a series of activities. Then the and placed behind the wearer’s ear.
formally correct result is worked through before the problem is The disposable sensor measures heart
solved using the quicker method. The result is then checked after- and respiratory rates as well as oxygen
wards with the classic method and corrected, if necessary. saturation for up to five days. A gate-
way transmits the data to an electron-
ic journal. The accompanying soft-
ware allows doctors and hospital staff
to monitor the vital signs of multiple
patients in a dashboard and detect
health problems at an early stage. If
a patient’s condition worsens, the sys-
tem can also independently send an
alarm. The first devices are currently
being tested in three Norwegian hos-
pitals. Following this test phase, Moon
Labs is hoping to receive the neces-
sary CE certification mark and begin
mass-producing the system by the be-
ginning of 2021.
09
SPECTRUM
BATTERY PRODUCTION
Cathodes from
Brandenburg
BASF is investing in the creation
of a European supply chain
for electric vehicles in Lusatia.
ENERGY STORAGE
BASF is building a new plant to manufacture cathode materials in
Power pack the town of Schwarzheide in Brandenburg, Germany. The compa-
ny describes this as part of a multi-step investment plan to build
Australian researchers have report- a European supply chain for e-vehicles. The plant is to begin pro-
edly developed the most powerful ducing cathode materials at an initial capacity sufficient to equip
lithium-sulfur battery to date. about 400,000 fully electric vehicles per year. The Schwarzhei-
de operation will use primary products from the previously an-
Researchers at Monash University in nounced BASF plant in Harjavalta, Finland. Both plants are to be-
the Australian city of Clayton have gin operations in 2022.
announced the development of a new With its investments in Finland and Germany, the chemical
lithium-sulfur battery that is reported- conglomerate plans to become the first supplier of cathode mate-
ly four times more efficient than the rials from local production capacities for the three main markets of
current market leader. Lithium-sul- Asia, the USA, and Europe. BASF had applied for the EU Com-
fur batteries are lighter, cheaper, and mission’s €3.2 billion funding program aimed at bringing battery
more environmentally friendly to pro- production to Europe.
duce than the widely used lithium-ion
batteries. The key to this breakthrough
is a particularly robust sulfur elec-
trode. According to the team of re-
searchers, the technology is capable of
powering a smartphone for five days
or charging an electric vehicle enough
to drive over 1,000 kilometers.
However, the Fraunhofer Insti-
tute for Material and Beam Technol-
ogy IWS, which developed the bat-
tery cell prototypes, warns against too
much optimism. The technology has
great potential, the Institute says, but
the advantage of lithium-sulfur batter-
ies over their lithium-ion counterparts
lies in their low weight, not in their
volume. “The advantage for smart-
phones is therefore doubtful, and the
advantages for electric vehicles de-
pend heavily on the particular vehicle
design,” stated the experts at Fraun-
hofer IWS.
10ENGINEERING AND IT
SMEs bringing startups to life
The mid-sized engineering and IT company OSB maintains a unique startup culture with
small spinoff companies. Chief Strategy Officer Andreas Rottmair speaks with VDE dialog,
explaining what this means exactly and how the company benefits.
OSB is an engineering and IT firm ment has to have real substance, after life cycle: OSB
with 500 employees. What does all. Then everything runs just like in a IoT Device Man-
your company have to do with classic startup – except that the in- agement. Andreas Rottmair
startups? vestor is the company where the team Chief Strategy Officer,
We have taken small teams with spe- was already working. This allows our What challenges OSB AG
cial competencies and founded our extremely young, ambitious engineers do you see in the
own internal startups. They have been to develop freely. This lets us harness OSB approach?
clustered in the form of individual com- the startup spirit to develop exciting Of course, we always begin with a
petence centers. They work on devel- new products. product idea, but the idea has to re-
oping specific technologies further that sult in the creation of something that
have already been implemented as Can you name an example? works – while keeping to the planned
product ideas. One internal startup focuses on the timeframe and budget. Developers,
security of embedded software. In however, tend to prioritize the devel-
So the relevant teams work there Germany, there are many SMEs that opment itself. So you have to keep
exclusively for the internal start- are very strong in electronics and an eye on things and make sure the
up? software development. But they often product doesn’t become overdevel-
That’s right. They work there with their have a lack of insight into how to pro- oped cost-wise, especially in this sort
own business plan, just like in an in- tect these products from unauthorized of startup atmosphere. It’s important
dependent company. Starting with external access. With this in mind, our here to really live out the product de-
the product idea, the product devel- team has developed an extensive plat- velopment process in an all-encom-
opment process is started within a form to securely produce and manage passing way. After all, it also takes
product board, and then the idea is the component where the software is some entrepreneurial spirit.
presented to the company. The invest- embedded across the entire product
PHOTOS: PAGE 10: FRAUNHOFER IWS DRESDEN (TOP), BASF SCHWARZHEIDE GMBH (BOTTOM); PAGE 11: OSB AG
ELECTROMOBILITY
More e-cars – fewer jobs
Germany has grown into the most important European
market for electric vehicles. At the same time, the National Platform
Future of Mobility (NPM) is warning about massive job cuts.
The Center of Automotive Management (CAM) re- tion in personnel needs in both production and parts
ports that Europe set a record for new e-vehicle reg- of development. The reasons for this are the increas-
istrations last year with over 564,000 cars registered. ing automation of production processes as well as the
CAM anticipates that this upward trend will contin- poor competitive position of German companies in
ue in 2020, forecasting an e-vehicle market share of the area of e-mobility, because they need to import
6 percent among new registrations in Germany alone. battery cells and electric vehicles. “We will need to
The National Platform Future of Mobility is warn- have the entire automotive supply chain here in the
ing about the possible negative impact of the grow- future,” concluded Jörg Hofmann, Chair of IG Metall
ing electric trend. It is forecasting a significant reduc- and Head of NPM Working Group 4.
11TITLE FUTURE HUB 12
DIGITAL AND
SUSTAINABLE
Hannover Messe will once again turn the capital of Lower Saxony into a mecca for automation and
energy technology. This year brings two new focus topics with fresh implications for Industry 4.0:
the new mobile communications standard 5G and sustainability in the sense of environmental and
climate protection.
BY GEORG GIERSBERG
Hannover Messe (HM) has stood for Industry 4.0 since sector will require many steps, “such as the transition to
2012. Some may be tired of even hearing the term, but green energy and its storage or the selection of sustaina-
the path to autonomous production systems – and that re- ble materials.” Hannover Messe presents answers to these
mains the goal – is still long. It is more a matter of dec- challenges with “top sustainable technologies” (see inter-
ades than years before fully autonomous systems will be view).
controlling industrial facilities or roads. What’s more, many
companies have not made as much progress as others. The Hannover Messe shows approaches and
recently published results of a survey of industrial deci-
sion-makers reveals that even managers have not yet ful-
solutions for climate-neutral production
ly recognized the potential of the Fourth Industrial Revo- Matthias Zelinger shares the same view. As climate and en-
lution. “Only 41 percent of the surveyed managers have ergy policy spokesman for the Mechanical Engineering In-
developed a formal approach for how their company will dustry Association VDMA, he predicted a few weeks be-
deal with the effects of climate change; only 9 percent of fore the trade fair: “The HM will feature solutions, and we
the survey participants reported having a comprehensive will discuss approaches for climate-neutral production.”
Industry 4.0 strategy,” the experts at consulting firm EY This will include the ongoing theme of hydrogen. The top-
conclude. ic of hydrogen/fuel cells illustrates the way many topics de-
This year’s Hannover Messe intends to do something velop over the years – sometimes rapidly, sometimes more
about that. While previous years saw the spotlight on pro- slowly – and showcase their annual progress in Hanover.
ductivity, flexibility (key word: batch size 1), and time- One year ago, artificial intelligence was a big topic and
to-market, the topic of environmental efficiency will at new territory for industrial applications. Its use remains
least be claiming its share of the limelight with the other in the spotlight twelve months later. What is presented as
three topics, according to Klaus Helmrich, Member of the a fresh innovation one year will only see widespread dis-
PHOTO: PAGE 12: SIEMENS
Managing Board of Siemens AG. The trade fair’s director, semination the following year or even later. There will be
Dr. Jochen Köckler, agrees on this point. The Deutsche lots of new software offerings this year, but also very prac-
Messe AG CEO is the board member responsible for Han- tical hardware solutions such as those from the Karlsru-
nover Messe. In conversation with VDE dialog, he said that he Institute of Technology (KIT). Researchers there have
achieving the goal of climate neutrality in the industrial developed a system for fully automated monitoring of ball
13TITEL FUTURE HUB
Converting data to knowledge to boost sustainability: Gerolsteiner Brunnen GmbH fills four million bottles of mineral water every day. To avoid taking too much water from
its springs, the company uses an IoT-based solution for precise usage forecasts.
screws in machine tools. This is possible through the inte- the Vulkaneifel deliver the mineral water that currently acts
gration of a camera directly into the ball screw’s nut. Us- as the basis for 125 different drinks which are filled into
ing the resulting image data, artificial intelligence contin- 4 million bottles daily on 12 filling lines. “Until recently, we
uously monitors any wear to keep the machine downtimes couldn’t say for sure on Monday whether we would have
at a minimum. enough water in the tanks for certain drinks by Friday,” re-
calls Arnd Büchsenschütz. Mr. Büchsenschütz is the oper-
The digital twin is on everyone’s mind, ations manager for process technology at the main factory
at Gerolsteiner. “We lacked the transparency to optimally
but most are hesitant to implement it control the production feeders,” says Mr. Büchsenschütz.
A digital twin for a company’s entire value chain has been While all the relevant data was being recorded, it was stay-
around since 2017. Today, 90 percent of companies are al- ing at the individual springs or in the individual warehous-
ready discussing the idea, but only a small number have es – it was not being combined and transmitted from the
implemented it. Dr. Helmrich estimates that only some MES level at the machines to the ERP level of the commer-
40 percent of industrial companies have begun working at cial software. This interface was missing – as it is at many
least partially with a digital twin so far. In practice, many other companies. Along with his colleague responsible for
companies are still working on digitally recording data, IT, he began looking around for suitable digital solutions.
i.e. installing the relevant sensors. Another topic of crucial They found what they were looking for at the German soft-
importance is the consistency of all data within a compa- ware firm, SAP.
ny. But this area in particular has shown significant pro-
gress, both in the implementation of pilot projects as well The need for consulting is immense,
as standardization by DKE and IEC. A common obstacle
to this for many companies are “homespun” IT systems
as are expectations for added value
that stand in the way of data consistency – like at Gerol- Borrowing the first name of Italian genius Leonardo da
steiner Brunnen GmbH from Gerolstein in the Eifel re- Vinci, the software firm offers a system that enables univer-
gion of Western Germany. 28 springs from the depths of sal digitization across an entire company – from machines
14TRADE FAIR STRATEGY
“Scenarios for the future of industry”
Hannover Messe does not only show the newest automation technologies: It also plans to become more easily
measurable itself for exhibitors and visitors. Dr. Jochen Köckler, the CEO of Deutsche Messe AG, speaks on
content, new hall plans, and digital visitor management. Dr. Köckler is also the board member responsible for
Hannover Messe.
Dr. Köckler, how are the world’s in Hall 3 with a clear technological link. DR. JOCHEN
most hotly debated current top- This will allow us to have more live KÖCKLER, CEO
of Deutsche
ics – sustainability and climate presentations than last year. We will Messe AG
protection – reflected at Hannover also be featuring the topic in Hall 21,
Messe 2020? which will specifically be dealing with
The industrial sector has concerned it- the local 5G campus network that we
self with the topics of sustainability and plan to operate here in the future.
climate protection for years. Many of
our exhibitors have already pledged to At the end of 2020, we are launch-
work towards achieving climate-neu- ing a dedicated 5G trade fair called
tral production in the future. Many Smart Venue. What will make that
steps are necessary to reduce pro- trade fair different from Hannover can be evaluated objectively. This nat-
duction-related CO2 emissions and to Messe? urally results in the ability to plan the
achieve climate-neutral manufacturing, While Hannover Messe focuses on next trade fair presence in a significant-
including the transition to green energy technologies, services, software, and ly more targeted manner. Follow-up
and its storage or the selection of sus- materials for industrial production, the correspondence with visitors can also
tainable materials. Hannover Messe 5G CMM Expo will focus on tech- be conducted with more precision af-
presents top sustainable technologies nologies and services for equipping ter the trade fair. At the end, visitors re-
and innovative technologies for the fu- mobile machines and vehicles with ceive a detailed visit report with exact
ture in the various exhibition areas on intelligence, allowing them to operate information about how long they spent
the trade fair grounds, so we are offer- autonomously. at each stand. During the trade fair, the
ing many answers to these questions. system will also recommend visitors
Beyond this, we will also be spotlight- To let people plan their visits to the specific exhibition areas, forums, and
ing climate protection and sustainabili- trade fair more efficiently, we are special exhibits that may be particularly
ty in our forums, including the Integrat- deploying comprehensive visitor interesting for them.
ed Energy Forum as well as the new recording. How does this benefit
Transformation Stage in Hall 25. There, visitors and exhibitors? That sounds quite altruistic. What
experts from business, science, and We are making trade fairs more meas- does the trade fair organization get
PHOTOS: PAGE 14: GEROLSTEINER BRUNNEN; PAGE 15: DEUTSCHE MESSE AG
politics will discuss scenarios for the urable with our new digital visitor anal- out of this?
future of the industrial sector. ysis. The exhibitors will receive daily As the trade fair organizers, we also
reports via email on how many visitors benefit since we can say exactly how
An important component for the fi- were in the hall, around the stand, and many visitors were in the individual
nalization of Industry 4.0 is the roll- where exactly they were at the stand. halls, which trade fair topics proved es-
out of the 5G mobile network. Han- This makes it clearly recognizable pecially attractive, which target groups
nover Messe began this one year who was at the stand at what time were interested in which topics, or
ago with a small special exhibition. of day, how full the stand’s capacity which presentations were in high de-
What can we expect this year? was throughout the day, and how long mand. This knowledge also allows us
We shall expand the special exhibition visitors stayed at a single stand. This to make our trade fairs more attractive.
further this year and will present it di- makes the attractiveness of a stand
rectly next to the logistics applications quantifiable, and individual activities Interview conducted by Georg Giersberg
15TITLE FUTURE HUB
The optimal use of data is becoming more and more important for industrial firms. Industrial edge computing makes this simple, flexible, and secure. Data is evaluated
and analyzed entirely at the machine before the optimized data points are transmitted to the cloud.
to business administration and on to the cloud. SAP is not puting. “The data must be sent to where it can be evalu-
alone here. While their software specialists build the sys- ated and utilized for machine controlling,” says Siemens
tem from top down into the production level, Siemens has board member Mr. Helmrich about this trend. Edge com-
chosen to work in the opposite direction. The electronics puting could be quite suitable for the many users who are
corporation from Munich has wide-ranging experience in hesitant to lose sovereignty over their data by sending it
machine controlling and also offers support across the val- through the cloud.
ue chain from production and business administration all One development in the same direction – towards win-
the way to the cloud. ning back data autonomy – can be seen in the progression
SAP reports that only 3 percent of firms have imple- of 5G campus networks. Very vague initial concepts were
mented company-wide digital transformation projects. The already on hand at the last Hannover Messe. This year,
demand for appropriate software, consulting, and service is once again, there will still not be any definitive solutions.
therefore immense, because the expected returns can also There will, however, be a special hall dedicated to 5G. The
be quite high. A new study from the consulting firm Cap- promise to establish a 5G network for the entire trade fair
gemini indicates that intelligent factories could generate grounds this year was, however, a bit hasty. The Deutsche
additional added value of at least $1.5 trillion for the world Messe supervisory board will only be awarding the con-
economy over the next five years. The greatest challenge tract for a campus network in April.
is reportedly IT-OT convergence, meaning the consisten-
cy of data processing at the machine level (OT, operation- 5G turns the trade fair grounds
al technology) through administrative data processing sys-
tems (IT) and into the cloud.
into Smart venues
One major challenge is the standardization of data, also 5G presents industrial firms with new possibilities of re-
referred to as normalization. This will also be a topic show- al-time processing and networking – not just in purely in-
cased in Hanover. Another important question is whether dustrial applications. 5G is becoming important for the en-
or not data can also be evaluated directly on site and used tire industrial sector. “With 5G, the Internet of Things will
for controlling through technology known as edge com- finally become a mainstream reality, providing end con-
16The 5G Arena was only the beginning – Deutsche Messe AG plans to go much further. By the summer of 2020, all of the halls and outdoor areas in Hanover are to be
equipped with the new 5G mobile communications standard to test and demonstrate innovative applications that would not be possible without 5G.
sumers with access to more data at their fingertips with this year, as he stated leading up to the trade fair. But this
virtually no response delay,” the market research company should not trick us into underestimating the huge impor-
Nielsen states confidently. Deutsche Telekom has prom- tance of the technology. “5G is, along with artificial intelli-
ised that the first 20 German cities will receive 5G by gence and cloud applications, one of the three big drivers
the end of the year. Markus Haas, CEO of O2 (Telefóni- of Industry 4.0,” Mr. Ziesemer declares. He emphasized
ca Deutschland), has even declared the next ten years the the urgent need for cloud platform standards to enable the
“Wireless Decade”. He goes on to say: “Artificial intelli- quick and simple transition from one platform to another
gence, the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, and autono- so that choosing a platform (Azure or Mindsphere) does
mous vehicles will push mobile data use to new heights. not need to be a make-or-break decision.
5G offers Germany a unique opportunity to catch up after Hannover Messe continues to be a technological trend-
falling behind in international comparison,” says Mr. Haas. setter. But compared to CES in Las Vegas, which exhibit-
This will especially spur advances in autonomous vehi- ed autonomous cars, or to the DLD conference in Munich,
cles in industrial settings. With this in mind, the planned which focused on quantum computers and their myriad
Smart Venue 5G trade fair in December 2020 will focus on possibilities, Hannover Messe remains the down-to-earth
PHOTOS: PAGE 16: SIEMENS; PAGE 17: DEUTSCHE MESSE AG
the use of 5G for logistics tasks, from self-driving sweepers source of inspiration for ideas and solutions that can be im-
to forklifts or for transporting hazardous materials across plemented in the here and now.
the grounds of a chemical factory. Hannover Messe will
also cover the first signs of this trend. There will only be
vague initial concepts for real-time controlling of manu-
facturing technology through 5G at Hannover Messe. Pro-
viders will first have to develop and test relevant products
with their own 5G networks. “The rollout of 5G technol- GEORG GIERSBERG
ogy for industrial automation will begin in 2023,” expects has been Editor of Business & Economics at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung since
Mr. Helmrich. ZVEI President Michael Ziesemer is also 1982. In addition to business topics, one of his specializations is the electrical
expecting at best “5G applications based on test cases” industry.
17TITLE FUTURE HUB
START-UPS
Industry
and
innovation
Digitization, artificial intelligence, automation: Getting “industry” to live up to the epi-
thet “4.0” will require the necessary innovation competence, innovation organization,
and innovation culture. Not all companies can manage this on their own, so partner-
ships with startups could be an effective tool for catching up in these areas. But that
is easier said than done.
18BY MARTIN SCHMITZ-KUHL
Is the glass half full or half empty? On the one hand, the prises (SMEs) and their importance for the German econ-
latest innovation ranking from strategy consultancy Boston omy. It is precisely this type of company that often lacks a
Consulting Group saw nine German companies counted vibrant innovation culture. This finding is all the more wor-
among the 50 most innovative companies worldwide for the rying because they employ 58 percent of German workers
first time. This makes German companies the second most liable for social insurance contributions. “If innovative ca-
represented national group in the Top 50 after US compa-
nies. In addition to the sporting goods manufacturer Adidas
(number 10), which rose 25 places, two other corporations
from Germany made a leap into the Top 20. The chemical
conglomerate BASF climbed from number 23 to number “Partnerships play a
12, and tech company Siemens from 21 to 16. The chemi- significant role in
cal and pharmaceutical company Bayer (24), the insurance
accelerating innovations
company Allianz (26), the automotive manufacturer BMW
(27), the software firm SAP (28), and the two carmakers and are indispensable for
Volkswagen (38) and Daimler (47) also placed among the Germany’s competitiveness
50 most innovative companies. “German companies have as a business location.”
understood that, in the digital age, real innovation goes far STEFAN GROSS-SELBECK
beyond incremental product improvements. They are also CEO of BCG Digital Ventures
working on new services and customer interfaces, reinvent-
ing processes, and building up partner ecosystems,” says
Carsten Kratz, Chairman of the Boston Consulting Group
for Germany and Austria. He points to another reason as
well: “German companies profit from both their strong
global presence and their established base of devices, ma- pability and the digital transformation fail to materialize,
chines, and systems. The enormous amounts of machine hundreds of companies and thousands of employees could
data from continuous operations are increasingly being slide into irrelevance,” Mr. García Schmidt warns. It is cer-
used effectively to create a competitive advantage.” tainly understandable that SMEs cannot invest in research
on the level of global conglomerates, but employee man-
The innovation culture at established agement or the promotion of creative free spaces would
also present opportunities to design innovation processes
companies is still developing at a slow rate more dynamically.
On the other hand – and now to the half empty glass –
there is certainly still much catching up to do despite those The German startup landscape has proven
top rankings. “A relatively small spearhead of innovative
companies stands in stark contrast to the majority of com-
inventive when it comes to Industry 4.0
panies in this country lagging far behind,” says Armando There is another popular method of boosting innovation
García Schmidt, an economist at the Bertelsmann Founda- for companies whose own innovative power in the fields of
tion. The foundation released a study at the end of last year digitization, artificial intelligence, and automation is lack-
PHOTOS: PAGE 18: FORMHAND; PAGE 19: BCG DIGITAL VENTURES
entitled “Innovative Milieus – How Strong is Innovation in ing: collaboration with companies that are further ahead in
the German Business Landscape?”. The result: “Only very these areas. And the German startup scene certainly has
few German companies have the innovative power need- something to offer, especially for Industry 4.0. The found-
ed to secure their competitive position in the long term,” ers, coming from universities including TU Munich, the
Mr. García Schmidt concludes. Only a quarter of compa- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and RWTH Aachen, are
nies have the necessary innovation competence, innova- characterized by their sophisticated expertise. For exam-
tion organization, and innovation culture at their dispos- ple: the maintenance and upkeep of machines and plants, a
al. Almost half of all German companies reportedly failed crucial topic for industrial manufacturing. Numerous com-
to adjust their innovation profiles to new conditions in the panies have been founded in recent years with the specific
last few years. goal of making these processes cheaper and more efficient.
The authors of the Bertelsmann study also see cause for · The Hamburg startup PANDA, founded in 2018, is cut-
concern in the structure of small and medium-sized enter- ting down on production downtime with its software and
19TITLE FUTURE HUB
INTERVIEW
“Sometimes very hesitant”
What is the current state of German digitization and innovation culture, and what role can politics play in pro-
moting them? Thomas Jarzombek, the Economic Affairs Ministry’s Commissioner for the Digital Industry and
Startups, answers our questions.
THOMAS That is why the German Federal Gov-
JARZOMBEK
Economic Affairs Min-
ernment is supporting entrepreneurial
istry Commissioner research and development through tax
for the Digital Industry incentives for the first time this year.
and Startups.
The Minister for Economic Affairs has
been a strong supporter of this meas-
ure. In terms of “may”, it’s all about
regulation and legal foundations. That
is why we support living labs that make
it possible to try out new technologies
and business models under real con-
In your opinion, how far along is here in Germany. This involves reduc- ditions, even if they have not yet been
the Germany economy in terms of ing the red tape further, and also the properly covered by applicable law.
digitization? state taking a leading role: for exam- Otherwise, the disruptive potential of
Overall, German businesses need to ple, it can use blockchain technology some digital innovations may not be
step on the gas when it comes to dig- to digitize administrative services and fully realized.
itization. This was really driven home give innovative startups a more con-
by a recent Bitkom survey where a sistent chance in public procurement What contribution can startups
majority of the companies considered processes. make towards Industry 4.0, and
themselves to be stragglers. It is espe- what must be done to make this
cially important that SMEs should take What must happen for innovation more successful?
advantage of the opportunities pre- culture here in Germany to grow Startups play an important role for in-
sented by digitization. That is why we even more – so that it does not dustry by serving as the suppliers of
have started a grant program, “digital become dependent on other coun- digitization. Their ideas for new pro-
jetzt – Investitionsförderung für KMU” tries? duction processes or business mod-
(digital now – investment promotion for Innovation culture depends highly on els are often adopted later by SMEs
SMEs), to create an additional incentive “want”, “can”, and “may”. Innovation or corporations. Both sides can profit
for investment in digital technologies and an entrepreneurial spirit develop from each other in this way. For this to
and the qualifications of employees. very early, from the school years on- work better in Germany, we need inte-
wards. We need to foster this spirit, grators – companies that buy startups.
Which role do startups play in this? not stifle it – and that goes especially Compared to American companies,
A key one. And that is why we need for girls too. And we need to reduce who do this in a big way, German com-
more growth capital for startups. We bureaucracy. For example, startups panies are sometimes very hesitant –
particularly want to raise private capital that fail are still required to keep their which leads to other companies mak-
from large institutional investors more records for years afterwards. Issues ing purchases and successful startups
aggressively through a future fund. like that need to change, because leaving Germany. In particular, I wish
We also need to improve the under- they keep people from even pursuing that DAX companies would be more
lying conditions for startups so that an idea in the first place. With regard decisive and proactive here.
they can actually implement their ideas to “can”, finances play a central role.
20hardware solution for cause analysis and the identifica- on neural networks to make industrial robots more flexi-
tion of manufacturing problems. With the plug & play ble. The goal is to let users train machines using real-time
product DRIFT, PANDA offers an all-in-one system for cameras and artificial intelligence. Mr. Vuine also let him-
minimizing plant standstills and performance deficits in self be “persuaded” into a partnership a few years ago –
the production process. and was disappointed. “The corporations often see start-
· Meanwhile, the Berlin startup Weare, founded in 2017, ups as colorful novelties that they can throw a little money
has developed a software which enables machine con- at to outsource innovation risks,” he complains. In his case,
struction and tech teams to jointly observe and work on which he refers to as a “bitter experience”, micropsi indus-
plants using VR glasses in virtual conference rooms. The tries was ultimately not even paid when the conservative
user navigation is intuitive – partly because it is borrowed factions at their partner company won the upper hand. He
from VR gaming. explained that such cooperation projects bring the hidden
· The Munich startup remberg, founded in 2018, has de- danger of pouring lots of time into solving very special-
veloped a software that makes it possible to map all ser- ized problems that are only really relevant for the respec-
vice processes relevant to the machine – like maintenance tive corporation – time that the startup could otherwise be
and upkeep – on a single platform. In this way, manufac- using to further develop its own product. For this reason,
turers can offer their customers digital documentation, they decided to not enter into any such partnerships going
service requests, and replacement part ordering. forward. “We want the corporations to be our customers,
· The startup FORMHAND Automation, founded not our partners. At the end of the day, it’s all about mak-
in 2017, is a spinoff from the Technical University of ing a good product that will be bought.”
Braunschweig. It specializes in grippers that can flexibly That is ultimately the goal for all companies, including
grip various parts through a kind of cushion using neg- the approximately 5,500 exhibitors from around the world
ative pressure. who will be presenting their products at Hannover Messe.
Among them are naturally many large industry leaders –
“In a fast-paced world, partnerships with startups are in- from A for ABB through Z for Zeltwanger. But Halls 24
dispensable,” says Michael Brigl, Partner and Corporate and 25 will also be filled with around 250 unknown, new,
Venturing Expert at Boston Consulting Group. Larger and emerging startups. The Future Hub is reserved for
companies, at least, appear to have grasped this fact. In young companies who can present their innovative prod-
the study “After the Honeymoon Ends: Making Corpo- ucts and ideas there in the Young Tech Enterprises area. In
rate-Startup Relationships Work”, the strategy consulting addition to the renowned Hermes Award, this year will also
firm presented the first comprehensive analysis of partner- see the presentation of the first Hermes Startup Award. El-
ships between corporations and startups in German-speak- igibility is limited to companies founded five years ago or
ing countries. “In doing this, the companies are hoping to less. “The startup scene is producing disruptive ideas and
digitize their own business models with more speed and technologies with real staying power,” the trade fair has an-
efficiency,” Mr. Brigl explains, while the startups mainly nounced excitedly: “The young newcomers are shaking up
hope to gain access to important markets. However, these the industry!”
hopes are often just too big – as are the disappointments
when their expectations do not come to fruition.
Cooperation does not always lead
to the desired win-win situation
Only 45 percent of the founders surveyed in the study were
satisfied with the cooperation. Despite the initial euphoria,
many said they were disillusioned by their goals going un-
achieved – they achieved no visible revenue growth from
the improved market access and were unable to open new
PHOTOS: PAGE 20: © TOBIAS KOCH
sales channels. The analysis indicates a high potential for
frustration on both sides if decisions are made slowly or
with little transparency, or if one side develops a feeling of
being in an unequal partnership.
Ronnie Vuine knows this all too well. The CEO of the Ber- MARTIN SCHMITZ-KUHL
lin startup micropsi industries, founded in 2014, works is a freelance author from Frankfurt am Main, Germany and an editor of VDE dialog.
21TITLE FUTURE HUB 3D PRINTING It all starts with additive thinking 3D printing technologies are no longer only used for prototypes. Companies are integrating additive manufacturing more and more into their production process. But innovative thinking is needed to exploit the technology’s full potential – German companies in particular have some catching up to do. BY MARKUS STREHLITZ “Additive manufacturing is well on its way to becoming an Dr. Weißgärber explains that melting processes are already established production technology,” says Thomas Weißgär- used to manufacture components for medical technology, ber, provisional head of the Dresden branch of the Fraun- aerospace engineering, and tool making, to name just a few. hofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Ad- According to a study conducted by the audit and con- vanced Materials (IFAM). Long gone are the days when sultancy group EY that surveyed 900 companies, only 3D printing, which encompasses a wide range of process- 5 percent of companies worldwide had integrated additive es, was used only for rapid prototyping. More and more manufacturing into their production processes in 2016, parts are being printed for actual use in the real world. but that number has now already risen to 18 percent. “By 22
2022, some 46 percent plan to use additive manufacturing
in their end production processes,” says Stefana Karevska,
Global Head of 3D Printing at EY. No strategic promotion
One company already doing this in a big way is igus, a German companies are still only hesitantly deploying 3D
manufacturer of plain bearings, energy chains, and special printing in industrial production processes. In addition to
flexible cables. “We use this process to manufacture com- the high costs, Stefana Karevska of the audit and con-
ponents used in machines – things like bearings, gears, or sultancy group EY sees the reasons for this in a general
drive nuts,” reports Tom Krause, Head of Additive Man- skepticism and caution among Germans when it comes
ufacturing at igus. Additionally, the company also offers to new technologies. Things look quite different in Asia.
its customers a 3D printing service, mainly for wear parts. “Particularly in China, additive manufacturing has been
3D printing can play to its strengths here, especially in set as a clear priority of the economic strategy at nation-
the production of spare parts, small to medium-sized pro- al level,” Ms. Karevska says. “There is no comprehen-
duction runs, and the wide variety of parts to be produced. sive promotion of 3D printing like that here in Germany.”
“If a customer’s machine is standing idle and they urgent-
ly need a spare part, we can print it overnight so they can This effectively means that Germany has been overtak-
get right back to work,” Mr. Krause says. “Additive manu- en by other industrial nations in the use of 3D printing.
facturing is predestined for this, because it grants you flex- While the EY analysis does find that 63 percent of com-
ibility and takes away the need to first procure the tools panies here use the relevant technologies, this puts Ger-
needed to produce the required part,” the 3D printing spe- many just below the international average of 65 percent.
cialist explains. In the lead are South Korea and China, where 81 per-
cent and 78 percent of companies use 3D printing, re-
Design engineers must already consider spectively. But the study also singles out Canadian com-
panies as being much more advanced, at 77 percent.
3D printing during development
Additive manufacturing has also enabled the production of
things that would be impossible with conventional meth-
ods. As an example, Mr. Krause names what is called a gas
ring – a device allowing drivers with disabilities to accel- names the process stability across various hardware sys-
erate by hand just using a car’s steering wheel. Problems tems as one of these issues. “There are still many challeng-
arise with steering wheels that are not completely round es at the moment when switching from one system to an-
but flattened on the bottom. This requires the production other.” Meaning: there are varying results from machine to
of a special ring to match the irregular shape. “The compa- machine. To make matters worse, there is a relatively high
ny Kempf has developed a ring for this purpose composed number of parameters across the additive manufacturing
of many gliders, allowing it to move around the corners,” process that are prone to errors or fluctuations, such as the
Mr. Krause explains. This part is produced additively. moisture content of the powder or the output of the laser.
“With injection molding, the ring could have only been The EY study also names the shortage of specialist ex-
produced in multiple parts – and with higher costs as well.” pertise on the production processes as another reason to
Conversely, it makes little sense to additively manufacture only hesitantly invest in additive manufacturing technolo-
parts that were designed for classic production methods. gies. The high costs of materials and system procurement
“We are constantly getting inquiries about parts that were are also putting a damper on development. They are prob-
clearly designed for conventional manufacturing,” report- ably also the reasons why German companies, despite their
ed Stefan de Groot, Technology Manager & Project Lead- enthusiasm for testing, have not yet committed strongly to
er for Additive Manufacturing at Protiq, at the last Han- additive manufacturing for their end products – unlike in
nover Messe. “But using 3D printing to manufacture such Asia, where 3D printing is showing strong growth. Par-
PHOTOS: PAGE 22: R_BOE – STOCK.ADOBE.COM
parts is often expensive and has no benefits.” This is why, ticularly in comparison to their international counterparts,
according to Dr. Weißgärber of Fraunhofer IFAM, design German companies have considerable room for improve-
engineers need to step up their additive thinking. That is ment.
the only way to exploit the technology’s full potential.
Aside from the gap in thinking patterns, there are a
couple more hurdles on the way to this becoming a full-
fledged production technology. Michael Wawrzinek, Addi- MARKUS STREHLITZ
tive Manufacturing Specialist at 3D printing firm Altair, is a freelance journalist and editor for VDE dialog.
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