Glass processing is becoming increasingly digitalised. Leading figures on where the digitalisation of the glass sector is headed and what drives industry players to adopt it. These insights also apply more generally to the facade manufacturing process.
We have been asking a number of leading figures from the glass industry about their views and visions on the digitalisation of glass processing and manufacturing. Here you will find a selection of answers on where the industry is headed in the future and what motivates companies to embrace the digitalisation of their production processes:
gw News: Will digitalisation fundamentally change glass processing in the next five years?
Markus Fischer, Head of Sales Software/Automation at Lisec: In the next five years, production processes will certainly move towards full automation. This not only brings advantages in terms of more efficient and smoother production: The transparency of processes will increase significantly and provide a 360° overview on all different production levels. This will not only optimise internal processes - customers will in future be able to monitor the entire progress of their orders online.
[Digitalisation] opens up completely new possibilities.
Lisec
One example of the fully automated production of the future must be the significant simplification when it comes to rescheduling a delivery date. Similar to how changing an appointment in Outlook works, in which all parties involved as well as the booked rooms are automatically informed and rebooked, in the future this will also have to work with production systems that automatically change over to the new delivery date down to the last detail and optimise themselves. Of course, the system will in future report at this point whether and if so, where increased costs will be incurred.
Peter Dixen, CEO A+W: Yes, glass processing will definitely change in the next five years. As digitalisation progresses, we will see increasingly smart automation, including the automatic organisation of more complex production processes. Machines will be able to communicate with each other more and more based on a uniform data platform, but also with the operator via the software systems. This applies both to the use of smart bidirectional interfaces and to the optimisation of production processes on the basis of extensive data provided by machines. Production will become faster, safer and more transparent. The communication network will increasingly include partners such as suppliers as well as customers, which will make planning and production processes even more efficient.
Thomas Schmidt, Glass & Production Consultant: The digitalisation of the production process often proceeds gradually and virtually unnoticed. Whether or not the result will be a fundamental transformation remains to be seen. But the areas of this change will impact all workplaces, whether in administration or in production or the workplace. Especially now (in the Corona crisis) we see the possibilities and shortcomings in the digitalisation of our processes. Working from home and remote maintenance have become critical measures, no longer just 'optional extras'. We must continue the learning process (=perspective!) to see digitalisation as a possibility and an opportunity, not as an extra burden. At the same time, the potential of data processing within companies must be further developed.
gw News: Where do you see the reasons for the increasing digitalisation?
Markus Fischer, Head of Sales Software/Automation at Lisec: From a technical stand point, one reason is that although the communication from the software to the machines has been working well so far, the latest developments also allow the machine to feed information back to the software. This opens up completely new possibilities and makes it possible to use a machine as a staff equivalent with a far lower error rate and, as a result, increased efficiency and effectiveness. Of course, such economic and qualitative possibilities are not only open to the manufacturer, but for the customer as well.
Far fewer reservations [...] than there were three or five years ago.
A+W
Peter Dixen, A+W CEO: The industry has 'gotten used to' Industry 4.0 as an idea. If you are constantly dealing with 'smart' assistants in your everyday life, you will tend to be less afraid of them and then increasingly also come to embrace highly digitalised processes in your company. I think there are far fewer reservations in the industry today than there were three or five years ago. If, for example, a new machine with smart interfaces allow a processor to produce twice as much in the same time as before, this positive experience is highly likely to encourage them to continue on the digital path and make greater use of this new potential. We are on the right track here.
Another key factor is the rapidly increasing requirement to document all production steps and components used (for instance: producer liability). This cannot be achieved cost-effectively without consistent digitalisation.
Thomas Schmidt, Glass & Production Consultant: There are two kinds of reasons for the increasing digitalisation, intrinsic and extrinsic ones. Intrinsic reasons manifest as a matter of course, for example in order to exploit the benefits of (idealised) processing and thus save money, or to shorten process chains in product manufacturing, and the associated processing times.
We must continue the learning process.
Dr Thomas Schmidt
Extrinsic reasons are generally determined by outside factors. For instance, processors having to react to the market situation as well as pressure from partners in the supply chain and from customers. Responding to such demands increasingly requires digital interfaces.
