From April 18 to 21, 2023, the Aachen-based software house delivered ConSense GmbH a wide range of technical presentations, workshops and live conferences. More than 450 participants registered for the virtual QM exhibition ConSense Expo 2023 and almost 2000 people visited the conferences. At virtual exhibition booths, the conference participants:in also expected a lot of news and information around living and accepted quality management and integrated management systems.

Future topic AI for QM software

Special attention was given to the future topic AI assistance for quality management systems and integrated management systems. In a much-noticed keynote, Dr. Alexander Künzer from the ConSense management presented the latest software version. According to his own presentation, the new release comes up with innovative AI technology for intelligent assistance and support functions in process and document management. In his presentation, he also showed how companies can achieve significantly more efficiency and performance with their management system in the future through the use of AI.

Tobias Beck, internationally successful speaker, Spiegel bestselling author and mental coach, was also very well received. In his humorous lecture "The language of success - the human type model", he explained how good knowledge of human nature can be used for targeted communication and successful QM projects.

Best practices and "enrichment and motivation for the daily QM routine".

QM managers from renowned companies, including Samuel Aubin from m-tg (international language service provider for medicine and pharmaceuticals) and Caroline Meyer from TÜV Austria, reported on applications in practice. ConSense user Vera Bremberger from the Austrian district hospital Kufstein spoke about the high demands on quality management in the hospital environment and the implementation in the management system. The visitors found the "open words and practical examples" as well as the "very clear" and "practical presentations" of their QM colleagues "particularly helpful", "very interesting" and "enriching and motivating for their daily QM work".

In addition to the application reports, live sessions and workshops invited visitors to gain insights and ideas on all aspects of introducing, setting up and structuring living management systems. The QM specialist conferences on the topics of QM marketing to increase the acceptance of QM systems and "Processes are internal communication" were in great demand. The panel discussion on the topic of "QM of the future" also aroused great interest among visitors to the virtual trade show.

Further information and an overview of other ConSense GmbH events are available at www.consense-gmbh.de available.

"We engineers are relevant to the system". With these words, Andrea Galli, the new President of the Swiss Association of Consulting Engineering Companies suisse.ing, opened this year's General Assembly in Bellinzona. With an annual gross fee income of around 2.5 billion Swiss francs, the members of suisse.ing make a significant contribution to the Swiss economy. Swiss francs, the members of suisse.ing provide a major share in the construction sector. "Engineering services secure and develop our infrastructures, communications, mobility and access to technology. Accordingly, we engineers should not only be valued as facilitators, but should be even better recognized as guarantors of the success of Switzerland and the Swiss economy," explained Andrea Galli.

FEDRO director speaks to engineers

Jürg Röthlisberger, Director of the Federal Roads Office (FEDRO), underlined the role of the federal government as a partner of engineering companies on an equal footing in his guest appearance before the who's who of the engineering industry. Röthlisberger pointed out the high costs of public transport and called for greater cost efficiency in this area. Individual transport, Röthlisberger said, will continue to play a central role in the future and accordingly requires ongoing investment. "It would be a mistake for politicians to play individual transport off even more against other modes of transport," Röthlisberger was combative.

Ticino in a special role for the engineering industry

The engineering industry also plays an important role in the canton of Ticino as a guarantor of economic development, infrastructure expansion and as an employer. Representing Ticino were, among others, Ticino's Director of Construction, Planning and Environment, State Councilor Claudio Zali, Head of the Dipartimento del territorio, and Mario Brandi, Mayor of Bellinzona. Pietro Brenni, president of the suisse.ing regional group Ticino, described it as one of the greatest challenges of the construction industry to reuse materials and existing structures in such a way that they will be available for future generations.

Threatening development of study and vocational baccalaureate numbers in the construction sector

Urs von Arx, president and initiator of the bilding foundation, showed that system relevance will become even more important in the future. The number of first-year students in the professional categories of civil engineering, building technology and energy continues to fall, he explained. The same applies to the number of vocational baccalaureates in these fields. Due to the shortage of skilled workers, engineering companies in Switzerland are under strong pressure.

It was gratifying that the expert jury of the bilding Foundation sent a clear signal with this year's Silver Circle award. They awarded the Silver Circle to the young engineer Sora Padrutt, Business Unit Manager at Holinger Zurich, as a personality who is committed to the engineering industry and its young talent in a variety of roles.

New composition of the Executive Board

The delegates approved all the proposals of the board. New members of the suisse.ing Board are André Flückiger, eicher+pauli AG, Berne, and Dario Bersiga, AFRY Schweiz AG, Fribourg. Agostino Clericetti, CSD Ingenieure AG, Lugano, Pierre Epars, BG Ingénieurs SA, Lausanne, and Stephan Tschudi, bbp geomatik ag, Gümligen, were confirmed for a further board period.

Sources and further information: suisse-ing.ch, building.ch 

Let's imagine the following: a refrigerated truck drives up to the ramp and is unloaded. While the truck drives off again, the goods are conveyed to the temperature lock, where the goods temperature is checked. It is determined that this is too low. The cold chain is interrupted. Has this already happened in the truck or only in the plant? "The problem in is that the inspection PC is not always available where it needs to be checked," explains Tobias Brehm, Business Development Manager at Quality Miners GmbH, based in the German town of Pfinztal near Karlsruhe. "The remedy is our completely newly developed Mobile Inspection, which can be used regardless of location. This solution will revolutionize the entire inspection process." This is because Mobile Inspection comes into play where stationary quality inspections are not feasible due to spatial or infrastructural restrictions. 

Create individual workflows in Mobile Inspection

The cloud-based solution can be used both in the cloud and on-premise. Those responsible for quality can define how the goods are to be inspected directly in the web interface without any programming knowledge. Inspection characteristics, sample size, nominal dimensions, tolerances, and the inspection equipment to be used are specified in the process. Every type of inspection, whether plausibility check, identity check, visual inspection or quality control, can be mapped in this way. Thanks to the in-house MIC technology (Measuring Equipment Interface Connector), manual measuring equipment of any kind can also be integrated.

Intuitive operation for the user

The user can now log in to Mobile Inspection via any commercially available end device, such as a tablet or smartphone, which is connected to the Internet via W-LAN or mobile network. When the truck rolls up to the loading bay, the system guides the user through the inspection process. It tells him to check the goods directly in the refrigerated truck with the infrared measuring device and that the temperature must be between 4 °C and 8 °C. Only when he has confirmed this, does he start the inspection. Only when he has confirmed this can the truck be unloaded. If the user detects deviations, he can document this with a photo, for example, and upload it to the cloud system. At the end of the inspection process, the inspection decision is triggered with a click.

Easy connection to SAP and QM.CAQ

Mobile Inspection is a lean and intuitive system in which no inspection plan or inspection order is created itself. These functions remain in QM.CAQ from the same manufacturer. The new release of this quality management software, which will appear in spring 2023, will include this connection to the new mobile inspection system as standard. Via an interface, the inspection order will then simply be fetched from QM.CAQ into Mobile Inspection. This means that all parts information and inspection characteristics are available locally and tedious duplicate creation is avoided.

The solution can be integrated into SAP without the need for a separate CAQ system. The interface for this is supplied by Quality Miners free of charge. "This enables companies that monitor their quality via SAP to also carry out their inspection planning and inspection lots in SAP and at the same time to use all the advantages of Mobile Inspection," adds Brehm. In addition, Mobile Inspection was designed with an open REST API interface. This enables customers to use the solution not only in QM.CAQ or SAP, but also to connect to all systems that support this standard in the future.

AI expands mobile inspection capabilities

What for many is still a dream of the future can already be optionally integrated into Mobile Inspection: an AI technology such as ChatGPT. With artificial intelligence, patterns in inspection data could be recognized and decisions made on this basis. In addition, such technology can also provide expert answers to users' questions.

In addition, the company is currently working intensively on extending Mobile Inspection to inspections during series production (SPC) and outgoing goods inspections. "Mobile Inspection will revolutionize the inspection process," Brehm is certain. In the future, this solution should be able to completely replace stationary inspections to the greatest possible extent. You can already learn more about this today in Quality Miners webinars. The first webinar will start on April 18, 2023 on the topic of "How AI is revolutionizing quality control".

Source: Quality Miners

Threat intelligence company Cisco Talos has published its quarterly threat intelligence analysis for the first quarter of 2023. According to the report, publicly available web applications were a major target of threat actors during this period. Nearly half of all attacks (45 %) use such applications as an initial vector to gain access to systems. Compared to the previous quarter, this represents an increase of 15 %. Many of these attacks used web shells that compromised servers accessible via the Internet. Generally speaking, a web shell is a malicious script that masquerades as a legitimate file, opening a backdoor to the web server. Web shells are usually "left behind" for further attacks after an already successful infiltration. According to the Talos researchers, attackers benefited from the fact that many web application user accounts were only protected with weak passwords or single-factor authentication.

Strengthened ransomware defenses thwarted greater successes

The threat from ransomware remains high. Even though Cisco Talos observed a general decline in successful extortion cases in the first quarter of 2023, ransomware activity remains high overall. So-called "pre-ransomware" activities accounted for approximately one-fifth of all attacks, so a rise in successful attacks can be expected again in the coming months. Cisco Talos was able to attribute many of the preparatory attack activities to well-known ransomware groups such as Vice Society. According to the researchers, the quick intervention of security teams at victim companies helped contain attacks before encryption could take place. In the first quarter of 2023, healthcare was the primary target for criminals, followed closely by retail, real estate and hospitality. 

OneNote documents as a weapon

So-called "commodity malware" was already on the rise last year. It is widespread and can be purchased or downloaded for free. Commodity malware is usually not customized and is used by threat actors at various stages of their activities. In the first quarter of 2023, previously sighted commodity loaders such as Qakbot now appeared again in greater numbers. Qakbot frequently made use of malicious OneNote documents in the process. The use of malicious OneNote attachments was also observed in other attack attempts. So, threat actors, according to Talos' analysis, continue to experiment with file types that do not rely on macros. Microsoft had begun disabling macros by default in its applications in July 2022. Other applications that carry and manage other files are also affected.

More results

The first quarter of 2023 brought further findings. For example, thirty percent of the observed attack cases either did not have multi-factor authentication (MFA) enabled or had it enabled for only a few accounts and critical services. Further, the open source toolkit Mimikatz was used in nearly 60 percent of ransomware and pre-ransomware deployments this quarter. Mimikatz is a widely used post-exploitation tool that steals login IDs, passwords, and authentication tokens from compromised Windows systems.

But there is also more encouraging news: Recent law enforcement successes in breaking up large ransomware gangs (e.g., Hive) are having an impact. However, this creates room for new families or the formation of new partnerships. For example, a new Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) family appeared in Q1/2023 with Daixin Ransomware.

Source: Cisco

Groundbreaking augmented reality solutions, state-of-the-art GPS systems, innovative robotic total stations and the latest generation of 3D laser scanners are all part of the equipment at the new Trimble Technology Lab FHNW, as are numerous software applications for data management, digital planning and collaboration. The FHNW is thus achieving a new standard in training and practice-oriented learning content in the fields of geomatics and digital construction, according to the statement. In addition, research and development projects at FHNW will be supported by the Trimble Technology Lab. "We are very pleased to be able to offer our students a unique infrastructure with the Trimble Technology Lab and to use it for research," says FHNW professor and project manager Stephan Nebiker. "We are convinced that the Trimble Technology Lab will make an important contribution to our future-oriented university education in geomatics and civil engineering, virtual design and construction (VDC), sustainable construction and architecture."

Excited about new geomatics lab

Geomatics students Nadja Pfister and Célina Neumann were able to use the Trimble Technology Lab even before its official opening to work on their bachelor's thesis and are thrilled: "The Trimble Technology Lab offers an unprecedented total solution of hardware and software components. This allows us students to get to know an even wider variety of working tools in geomatics and to quench our thirst for knowledge for trying out new combinations. It also provides us with a platform for exchange among ourselves, across semesters as well as projects. This allows us to benefit from the latest technology as well as from each other."

Focus on digital and sustainable design and construction 

The new Geomatics Lab at the FHNW Muttenz Campus is the 25th Trimble Technology Lab worldwide. It focuses on the key areas of "Planning and Geomatics" and thus complements the Trimble Technology Lab at the Sursee Campus, which will be inaugurated in March 2022 and focuses on the area of "Construction". Both labs are made possible by a generous gift from technology company Trimble. "Our goal is to change the industry," says Claude Chassot, Managing Director at Trimble Switzerland, explaining, "For us, the Trimble Technology Lab FHNW is another milestone in providing the next generation of professionals with technologies that help make the world better, faster, safer and more environmentally friendly."

Comprehensively equipped with pioneering technologies

The laboratory environment was arranged and designed by the MEB Group, which also supports training and further education together with its subsidiaries. "The Trimble Technology Lab provides direct access to a comprehensive portfolio of state-of-the-art equipment and software for surveying and Building Information Modeling (BIM). Together with FHNW and Trimble, we are making an important contribution to the successful digitalization of the Swiss surveying and construction industry," says Markus Brun, CEO of MEB Group.

The Trimble Technology Lab in Muttenz provides a wide range of Trimble's groundbreaking technologies, such as the XR10 mixed reality construction helmet with HoloLens 2, various GNSS receivers, controllers and tablets, robotic, universal and scanning total stations, and laser scanners. Students also have access to numerous software solutions in the lab, such as the popular 3D modeling software SketchUp Studio, the structural design software Tekla Structures, the collaboration platforms Trimble Connect and Trimble Quadri, and other software solutions such as Trimble Business Center, Trimble RealWorks, Trimble Novapoint, Trimble FieldLink, Trimble Siteworks and Trimble WorksOS. 

Trimble's comprehensive Connected Construction product portfolio enables all professionals along the project lifecycle to accelerate project processes, improve productivity, quality, visibility, safety and sustainability, while reducing wasted resources. 

Source and further information: University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland

The CyberSeal is a result of the implementation plan of the National Strategy for the Protection of Switzerland against Cyber Risks (NCS) 2018 to 2022. So far, more than 30 IT service providers have received the CyberSeal.

CyberSeal as a seal of quality

A cyber attack on an SME can cause considerable material damage. The company's image can also be severely damaged. The majority of SMEs rely on external
IT service providers to be able to concentrate on their core business. But how does an SME recognize which IT service provider has the right competencies? When it comes to IT security, the differences between the individual service providers are very large and the risk of choosing the wrong one is correspondingly high. The National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) recognized this problem some time ago and supported the development of the "CyberSeal" seal of approval by private players.

30 audited IT service providers to date

The CyberSeal certifies an IT service provider's competence in implementing measures to adequately protect its SME customers from cyber risks. The CyberSeal serves as a guide for SMEs when choosing the right IT service provider. To date, over 30 IT service providers have received the CyberSeal, and 10 more are about to complete the CyberSeal audit. However, in order to make the digital space more secure for Swiss SMEs, the ADSS association would like to see significantly more participants. After all, IT service providers have a significant influence on the cyber resilience of the Swiss economy.

The list of service providers certified to date can be here can be viewed.

Can you tell from the outside what the inside of a material looks like? That is technically possible in principle, for example with X-ray technology. Or if destruction is not an issue, the material can simply be cut open. A new method based on AI now takes advantage of the fact that much of what happens inside a material also has an influence on the surface. To do so, a team of researchers at MIT used Deep Learning to compare a large set of simulated data about the external force fields of materials with the corresponding internal structure to develop a system that can make reliable predictions about the interior based on the surface data. The results were published by PhD student Zhenze Yang and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Markus Bühler in the journal Advanced Materials.

When surface structures refer to the interior

According to Markus Bühler, this is a common problem in engineering: "If you have a piece of material - maybe a car door or a part of an airplane - and you want to know what's inside the material, you can measure the strains on the surface by taking pictures and calculating how much deformation you have. But you can't really look inside the material. You can only do that by cutting it and then looking inside to see if there's any damage there." X-ray technology, on the other hand, is expensive and requires bulky equipment. "So we basically asked ourselves the question: Can we develop an AI algorithm that looks at what's going on on the surface, which we can easily see either with a microscope or a photograph, or just measure things on the surface of the material, and then try to figure out what's going on inside?" This internal information could include damage, cracks or stresses in the material, or details of the internal microstructure. The same kind of questions can apply to biological tissue, Markus Buehler adds. "Is there a disease there, some kind of growth or changes in the tissue?" The goal was to develop a system that could answer these kinds of questions in a completely non-invasive way.

Tracking down the inner life of materials with deep learning system

"To achieve this goal, we had to deal with complex issues, including the fact that there are multiple solutions to many of these problems," says Bühler. For example, many different internal configurations can have the same surface properties. To deal with this ambiguity, "we developed methods that gave us all the possibilities, basically all the options that could lead to this particular [surface] scenario."

The technique they developed involved training an AI model using large amounts of data on surface measurements and their associated internal properties. This included not only uniform materials, but also those containing different materials in combination. "Some new aircraft are made of composite materials, so they are intentionally made of different phases," Buehler says. "And, of course, in biology, too, any kind of biological material is made of several components that have very different properties, as in bones, where there are very soft proteins and very rigid minerals."

Widely applicable method

The technique even works for materials whose complexity is not yet fully understood, says Markus Bühler. "With complex biological tissue, we don't understand exactly how it behaves, but we can measure the behavior. We don't have a theory for it, but once we've collected enough data, we can train the model."

Zhenze Yang says the method they developed has broad applicability. "It is not limited to problems in solid mechanics, but can also be applied in other engineering disciplines such as fluid dynamics and other fields." Buehler adds that it can be used to determine a wide range of properties, not only stress and strain, but also fluid or magnetic fields, such as the magnetic fields in a fusion reactor. It is "very universal, not only for different materials, but also for different disciplines."

Yang says he first thought about this approach when he was examining data on a material where part of the images he was using were out of focus, and he wondered how it might be possible to "fill in" the missing data in the blurred area. "How can we recover this missing information?" he wondered. As he read further, he realized that this was an example of a common problem known as the inverse problem, which attempts to recover missing information.

How the deep learning system for material properties was developed

The development of the method was an iterative process in which the model made preliminary predictions, compared them to actual data about the material in question, and then further refined the model to incorporate this information. The resulting model was tested on cases where the materials were known well enough to calculate the actual internal properties, and the predictions of the new method matched well with the calculated properties.

Training data included images of the surfaces, as well as various other measurements of surface properties, including stresses and electric and magnetic fields. In many cases, the researchers used simulated data based on an understanding of the underlying structure of a particular material. And even if a new material has many unknown properties, the method can produce an approximation good enough to give engineers a general direction for further measurements.

The two researchers assume that this method, which is available via the website GitHub is freely accessible to everyone, will initially be applied primarily in laboratory environments, for example when testing materials for soft robotics applications.

Source: Techexplore.com

A strong password must be at least twelve characters long and contain both lowercase and uppercase letters, special characters as well as numbers. In addition, the password must not appear in any dictionary. Such passwords are difficult to remember. Especially if, as recommended, a separate password is used for each application. Therefore, passwords like "hello" or "123456" are still among the most commonly used passwords in Switzerland. Weak passwords like these make it easy for cybercriminals to hack user data and misuse it for illegal purposes. With the current campaign, the security authorities and their partner organizations point out the dangers of weak passwords and show how you can optimally protect your access.

Technical means support cybersecurity

In order to create a strong password for every access and to manage the passwords securely, so-called password managers serve as helpful support. Users only have to remember one strong password, namely the password manager password. Security is supported by 2-factor or multifactor authentication. Here, in addition to the password, the knowledge factor, other factors such as biometric data, e.g., fingerprint or Face ID, are added. 

National password security awareness campaign

Since May 1, the NCSC, the SKP and the cantonal and municipal police corps, with the support of iBarry and EBAS, have been raising awareness among the Swiss population about the importance of strong passwords. With tongue in cheek, it is made clear that simple passwords, moreover pinned on Post-its, are very tempting for cyber criminals. On the campaign website S-U-P-E-R.ch, learning videos provide further information. With the acquired knowledge and a little luck, one not only wins more cyber security, but also a competition prize. The campaign will run until May 31, 2023. 

Source: Swiss Crime Prevention (www.skppsc.ch)

Further information

Mr. Richner, energy scarcity has been one of the dominant topics in recent months - and is likely to continue to occupy us, see for example the continuation of a number of savings measures beyond the heating period. How did Empa manage to get through the winter?

Peter Richner: Thanks to a combination of warm weather and selective savings measures, we were able to reduce energy requirements by a total of 14% between October 2022 and March 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year. And, most importantly for us, we achieved this saving without having to accept any operational restrictions.

How exactly did you achieve this, what measures did you take?

We reduced room temperatures and lighting, eliminated domestic hot water, and consistently eliminated stand-by losses.

And will you continue with these measures? Or even take further steps towards sustainable energy supply?

We will certainly continue to implement the majority of the measures. In addition, we will continue to invest in optimized control of room temperatures, and we will commission a new type of seasonal heat storage system on our campus in Dübendorf this year, which will enable us to achieve further significant savings in heating energy.

The energy transition to a sustainable energy supply is currently on everyone's lips - partly because of the upcoming vote on the Climate and Innovation Act. Everybody involved seems to be passing around different figures that seem to support one point of view or another. Why is there such a "cacophony" of figures - are some simply unable to calculate?

Indeed, the numerous studies published by Empa and many others in recent months and years appear contradictory at first glance. However, it is important to note that these studies are only ever concerned with examining the results or consequences of certain decisions and actions, in the sense of an "IF-THEN". These are therefore possible scenarios - and not forecasts that would claim to describe exactly the conditions in 2040 or 2050.

The assumptions underlying a study are therefore quite decisive for the results. Logically, these look different if, for example, one study assumes full exploitation of the potential for renewable energy in Switzerland - i.e. sun, wind, water and geothermal energy - and another study only partially activates this potential.

A good example of this is the work of Andreas Züttel and his colleagues, in which they investigated what it would mean if Switzerland wanted to cover 100% of its energy needs at all times through domestic production - in other words, if it were completely self-sufficient in energy. This is a situation that has not existed since at least the industrialization that began in the second half of the 19th century. The analysis shows that complete energy self-sufficiency would only be achievable at exorbitantly high costs in combination with massive interventions in our environment. In this respect, the study confirms the correctness of Switzerland's current strategy, which aims at a mix of energy efficiency, expansion of renewable energies in Switzerland, integration into the European power grid and global trade in renewable energy.

So that means the different costs simply depend on what you include in the "total bill" for the energy transition?

In addition to technical feasibility, costs naturally play a major role in all studies on the transformation of the energy system. Here, too, one has to look closely at each work, since there is no universally accepted definition of the "energy system". In addition, a distinction must be made between what are effective additional costs and what costs in the form of maintenance and replacement investments must be borne in any case - in other words, even without transforming our energy system. For example, the currently much quoted study by "Swiss Banking" mentions total costs of CHF 387 billion, of which 58%, i.e. CHF 225 billion, are replacement investments. Alone 35% of the total costs are incurred for the initial purchase of electric vehicles by private individuals. However, these are largely not additional costs, since in the period up to 2050 the entire vehicle fleet would be replaced at least once anyway and the costs of electric vehicles and combustion engines are constantly converging.

With all the differences in the various studies and models - where is there agreement, what is currently considered certain?

Everyone agrees that a complete replacement of fossil fuels is necessary. And this must be done as quickly as possible in order to keep the damage caused by global warming within acceptable limits. Furthermore, security of supply is insufficient due to the current high dependence on imports from partially critical regions.

The switch to renewable energies is associated with a strong electrification in building heating systems and in mobility, which at the same time leads to a large gain in energy efficiency: Both a heat pump and an electric motor are about three times more efficient than a boiler or a combustion engine. This leads to a reduction in primary energy demand, but at the same time to greater demand for electricity.

Covering them, especially in winter, is probably the biggest challenge to master. There is not THE right solution for this, but rather a multitude of variants. If we analyze the various transformation paths, it is striking that they hardly differ in terms of the measures to be taken in the next few years: We need to significantly improve energy efficiency in all sectors (buildings, mobility, industrial processes) and massively expand domestic renewable energy capacities. It is only in the second phase from 2030/2035 that there is a differentiation between the various scenarios, which differ primarily in the degree of self-sufficiency and the mix of technologies used.

Given the urgency and the magnitude of the challenge, it would therefore be appropriate to place more emphasis on the consistent implementation of the first steps we need to take in the next two to five years. We have used the last 15 years poorly, instead focusing discussions on describing the state of affairs in 2050 as accurately as possible. While this is certainly important, it should not prevent us from doing what is needed NOW - and what is also widely agreed upon.

What do you mean - "the last 15 years badly used"? What have we missed in Switzerland during this time?

A good example is the expansion of photovoltaic systems. The prices for PV modules have been falling exponentially for many years, between 2010 and 2020 by a factor of about 10! Parallel to this, the amount of installed PV capacity is increasing globally on a similar scale. In contrast, if we look at the situation in Switzerland, it is noticeable that the addition of new capacity stagnated or even declined from 2013 onwards and only started to grow again from 2019 onwards. If the Swiss PV market had instead developed in parallel with the global market, the installed capacity in Switzerland would already be many times higher today. This would mean that domestic electricity production would be correspondingly higher, and the manufacturing sector would also have developed accordingly during this period and would have significantly larger installation capacities today. This would put us in a much better position today in terms of electricity supply security.

How did this stagnation in the PV sector come about?

Actually, after Fukushima and Switzerland's turning away from nuclear technology, one would have expected that the expansion of alternative technologies at home would have been given high priority. This was obviously not the case. For too long, the focus was on an import strategy on the electricity side, even though it quickly became clear that our neighboring countries face similar challenges, especially in winter, and that concluding an electricity agreement with the EU is proving very difficult.

One more question about security of supply - this has been a high priority, and not just since the war in Ukraine. In order to achieve this, do we have to "produce" all our energy in Switzerland, i.e. become self-sufficient?

Once again, complete self-sufficiency makes neither economic nor ecological sense; the price is simply too high. It is also not part of Switzerland's energy strategy. Switzerland has not been self-sufficient in energy since industrialization; the same is true for many other aspects such as food, medicines, etc. It is much more important to build a resilient supply system based on strong domestic production with water, sun and possibly wind and geothermal energy with appropriate storage facilities. This is supplemented by the import of renewable energy, if necessary in the form of synthetic energy carriers such as hydrogen and methane, which can certainly be produced in areas far away from Switzerland. After all, there is an abundance of renewable energy there. However, two aspects are important: The sources of supply must be diversified so as not to become critically dependent on individual countries or regions of the world. And Switzerland needs to be well integrated into the European energy network. In the future, this will include not only electricity, but probably also hydrogen and synthetic methane. If we have no access or only limited access, our security of supply will be in question.

Further information: Empa

Every year since 2008, SAP Switzerland has presented the Quality Award to customers who stand out with outstanding performance in the planning and execution of implementation projects. Successful SAP implementations demonstrate not only project planning at a high level of quality, but also a focus on fast and cost-effective implementations close to the SAP standard.

Quality Awards recognize exceptional performance

The projects are evaluated by a jury with the help of ten quality principles recommended by SAP, the observance of which promises better results in the implementation of standard software. The aim is to achieve project results that generate measurable added value and meet the demand for short implementation cycles and rapid value creation. The Quality Awards recognize SAP customers who demonstrate exceptional performance. At the same time, the Awards foster the emergence of a community of "thought leaders" in which collaboration with customers and partners is strengthened.

Quality Awards for 13 projects in 3 categories

To determine the best projects of the past year for the SAP Quality Awards 2023, the SAP Quality Management Switzerland team again evaluated a large number of successfully completed SAP projects. This year, SAP Switzerland presented awards in three categories, including the "Sustainability" category for the first time.

• The category "Business Transformation" includes large projects with more than 500 users, a project duration of more than 6 months and an effort of more than 900 person-days.
• In the category "Cloud Transformation" large-scale projects are evaluated with the same requirements as the business transformation projects, but the focus is on the transformation of cloud solutions.
• In the category "Sustainability" awards are given to projects that use one or more solutions from the SAP sustainability portfolio. In addition, measurable impacts on at least one of the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals must be demonstrated.

In each category, one main winner and other winners were honored with an award. A total of 13 projects from companies operating in Switzerland were honored this year, whose projects met the award requirements to a particularly high degree.

Award winner in the "Business Transformation" category

As the main winner, the jury has chosen the Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen chosen. His SAP S/4HANA business transformation project, one of the largest hospital projects in Switzerland, had the goal of consolidating five independent companies from the hospital network on a new system environment. An important factor in the project was the harmonization and standardization of processes and master data. The jury was impressed by the handling of the complex technical and organizational dependencies as well as the necessary safeguarding of the availability requirements of an acute hospital operation. The Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen was supported in this major project by implementation partner Swisscom.

Through an outstanding SAP S/4HANA on-premise implementation, also earned an award:

• Buhler, an internationally active Swiss technology group, implemented a comprehensive SAP S/4HANA project that was additionally integrated with other SAP solutions. The implementation partner was Swisscom.
• The Coop Cooperative converted its two SAP Retail core systems to SAP S/4HANA. Project partners were SAP Switzerland, SNP and retailsolutions.
• The Helsana Insurances realized a migration of the existing SAP landscape to the new SAP S/4HANA environment on Azure. The project was supported by NTT Data Business Solutions.
• The internationally active tobacco group JT International created the prerequisite for end-to-end cash flow hedging with the SAP application Trade Platform Integration in order to hedge payment flows against the risk of (currency) fluctuations. The implementation partner was PwC Switzerland.
• The Canton Basel-Country realized a comprehensive renewal of the system landscape. This includes a transformation to SAP S/4HANA as well as the commissioning of further SAP solutions. The consulting firm NOVO Business Consultants supported this project.
• The University Hospital Basel migrated its existing SAP solution to SAP S/4HANA together with Swisscom to lay the foundation for future digitization projects.
• Another customer project, which must not be named, also received an award.

Award winner in the "Cloud Transformation" category

The main winner in this category is the Swiss Kistler Instrumente Group, pioneer and global market leader in dynamic measurement technology. This cloud transformation project involved the implementation of SAP Commerce Cloud, SAP Business Technology Platform and SAP Variant Configuration and Pricing. With the associated renewal of all relevant technical platforms, Kistler is fundamentally realigning the digital customer journey. The jury was particularly impressed by the change management approach chosen. The measurable business improvements achieved after just a few months of operation also impressed. Sybit supported and accompanied this project as an implementation partner.

Other winners in the "Cloud Transformation" category are:

• The railroad company BLS together with SAP Switzerland, has implemented several components of SAP SuccessFactors to standardize, simplify and optimize HR processes.
• Roche Diagnostics intends to break new ground in the healthcare sector by offering digital products and services with the implementation of the SAP Subscription Billing and SAP Entitlement Management solutions. This project was supported by implementation partners Accenture and SAP Switzerland.

Award winner in the "Sustainability" category

The main winner in the sustainability segment is called Clariant International. The global specialty chemicals company has implemented a project to automatically calculate the CO2 footprint of products as well as to simulate and predict them in a supportive manner. This enables the Swiss global corporation to identify CO2 reduction potential and forecast future CO2 emissions, as well as using the predictions to calculate its own CO2 reduction obligations. The jury was convinced by the great innovative strength in the field of sustainability and the lighthouse character of this project for other companies. The NDC Group advised Clariant on this project.

Also receiving a "Sustainability" award were JT International: With the implementation of the SAP Business Integrity Screening solution, the tobacco group has created the possibility to screen and monitor business partners using economic and trade-related sanction information. SAP Switzerland supported the project during implementation.

Source: SAP Switzerland

A study conducted by the ZHAW and the BOC Group entitled "Business Process Management Study 20232 has examined the significance of process management in companies. It is based on a survey of over 300 companies from a wide range of industries and sizes and looks at the status quo, developments over the past 11 years and future trends. While BPM was considered a "new-age management discipline" more than ten years ago, it is now an integral part of companies of all sizes and in all industries. The study highlights not only the classic goals of process management such as optimization, but also other scenarios such as quality management, ICS, compliance, digitization or customer orientation, which are increasingly associated with BPM.

The respondents see the lack of resources and personnel as the greatest challenge in the area of BPM. Another important aspect is the acceptance of BPM in the company. According to the study, there is still room for improvement here. Despite these challenges, the forecasts for the future are promising. More than 68 percent of respondents are convinced that BPM will have increased or greatly increased relevance in companies in the future. The study also shows that companies are increasingly using tools specialized in process management or database-based graphical modeling tools. One example of this is the BPM suite ADONIS from the BOC Group. This company develops and sells just such state-of-the-art enterprise modeling software in the areas of GPM, EAM and GRC for effective and comprehensive enterprise management in the digital age.

The study shows that BPM has grown from a marginal discipline to a central, stable component of companies. Companies that successfully implement BPM can thus actively meet the complex and dynamic conditions of our time and achieve competitive advantages.

Interested parties can download the complete Download BPM study here free of charge, to get an even more comprehensive picture of the state, developments and future of BPM.