Canon (Schweiz) AG integrates BLP-Digital's Software as a Service (SaaS) solution into its Workspace software portfolio as a distributor. BLP Digital's comprehensive cloud suite enhances content and document management. The technology, which was researched at ETH, was developed over many years of joint collaboration with 60 companies and, according to the company, represents "a true quantum leap" in the area of automated processing of supplier documents such as delivery bills, order confirmations and invoices or incoming orders from customers.

Use of artificial intelligence

Thanks to artificial intelligence and novel neural networks, the software can extract head, foot and position data in high quality without having prior information regarding the structure and content of the documents, explain the manufacturers. The often unstructured data from various sources is thus transformed into structured, appropriately classified information. Users also benefit from the deep integration of the solution into ERP and surrounding systems as well as the intelligent comparison of master and transaction data in real time. Associated processes thus run efficiently and automatically - purchasing, logistics, finance and sales departments in particular benefit from significant time savings. This means that companies are resiliently prepared for the future.

A win-win situation

Canon continuously invests in the further development of its business practices in order to expand its already leading position in the information management market. As recently as February 2023, Canon (Schweiz) AG announced the expansion of its solutions business under the leadership of Michael Maunz: "Our goal is to accompany our customers on the path to digitization with customized end-to-end solutions and services. With the cloud solution from BLP Digital, we can expand our portfolio and offer our users a new, attractive and modern technology. With the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning, we are adding additional sophistication to cloud capturing and ERP process automation," explains Michael Maunz, Head of Solution Domain, Canon (Schweiz) AG.

BLP Digital, on the other hand, is pleased about the cooperation with Canon - in the future, they will know that they have a company with a strong presence in the market and excellent specialists at their side, who will contribute their broad know-how and network in the field of information management. "Sealing the cooperation with Canon as an established sales partner with comprehensive process expertise in various industries is a stroke of luck for a startup like BLP," says Thore Harmuth, Co-Founder, BLP Digital AG.

Source: Canon (Switzerland) AG

In industry, more and more companies are relying on computer vision systems that can recognize and process objects in still and moving images. They use them, for example, to automatically detect visible damage to machines or infrastructures for maintenance purposes, to inspect workpieces produced for defects for quality control purposes, or to determine parts and equipment for reordering for their inventory management. A critical component in the application of computer vision is the recording technology, because its success depends to a large extent on the image quality. Different cameras and laser systems are available for capturing images, each with their specific strengths and weaknesses. Which solution is best depends on the specific application. 

Swiss data science specialist LeanBI explains which factors industrial companies need to consider when making their selection:

What are the lighting conditions? 
Cameras require very good illumination, especially for moving parts, so that the images do not become blurred. Laser systems, on the other hand, can work reliably and deliver accurate data even in unfavorable lighting conditions.

Is there any contamination? 
In industrial plants, contamination often has a negative effect on the image quality of cameras. Cleaning systems using compressed air or water can eliminate the problem, but they make the overall system more expensive and more prone to errors.

How accurate do the recordings need to be?
Standard cameras with 4K resolution are inexpensive, but often not enough in industry. Submillimeter imaging requires expensive cameras with resolutions of 10K and more. Laser systems that are inherently high-resolution can then be the better choice. 

Is three-dimensionality necessary?
Cameras capture 2D images, laser systems can generate 3D images. Although 3D models can be reconstructed retrospectively from 2D images using photogrammetry, this is a relatively complex process that often requires manual intervention.

Is a combination with other data useful?
Often, the combination of image data with further data, for example from acoustic and vibration sensors or current measurements, can offer added value. This added value also depends to a large extent on the imaging technology used. 

"Industrial companies should check and weigh the possibilities and limitations of the various techniques at an early stage," explains Marc Tesch, owner and CEO of LeanBI. "A supposedly simple computer vision application with a camera can suddenly become complex and expensive if it turns out that good illumination and a cleaning system are required. In such cases, a laser system may be a better solution from the start."

Source and further information: www.leanbi.ch​

Each and every one of us has certainly experienced it: Soap gets into the eye while showering, and it burns and itches. But the consequences are much more dramatic when stronger chemical substances, such as those found in household products, get into the eye. One drop of acid is enough to damage the cornea of our exposed and sensitive visual organ and leave a permanent scar. A few drops of alkaline solutions can even cloud the entire cornea forever. That's why experts have been studying the potential risk of eye irritation from chemicals since 1944 using the Draize test. In this test, substances are dripped into the eyes of rabbits. After days, the chemical substances are then classified: into GHS category 1 (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals) for irreversible damage, GHS category 2 for reversible damage, or into chemicals that do not require labeling because they are not harmful.

Standard animal experiment frowned upon

However, animal testing has been discredited for years. Scientists around the world are therefore working hard to find alternatives. Until now, however, it has not been possible to reliably distinguish between irreversible and reversible damage without animal testing, meaning that a complete replacement for the Draize test has not been possible. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Translational Center for Regenerative Therapies TLZ at Fraunhofer ISC in Würzburg are currently working with partners from industry and research to develop an impedance-based in vitro test system that will make this distinction possible. At the same time, it is to be submitted to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD and established as a new testing guideline.

Impedance based eye damage test

The new test method combines a modified cornea model based on human tissue models with non-invasive impedance spectroscopy. "We first grow human tissue in the laboratory that replicates the anterior part of the cornea, the cornea. The tissue cells are encased in a cell membrane that acts like an electrical insulator due to its chemical composition. If the cells form one or more closed layers, then a measurable resistance is created. The barrier properties of epithelia, the outermost layer of the cornea, can be determined using electrical resistance," says Dr. Christian Lotz, a scientist at the Fraunhofer TLZ, explaining the principle. If a test substance causes damage to the eye, the barrier is destroyed, cells die, holes appear and the resistance drops. The current can flow freely again. The more cell layers die, the further the resistance drops. In this way, the condition of the tissue can be measured indirectly with the impedance spectrometer without destroying the tissue model, i.e. non-invasively. If the cell tissue is not damaged, the resistance is high. If, on the other hand, the cells are destroyed, the electrical barrier breaks down.

Distinction between reversible and irreversible damage possible

"Unlike other methods, our impedance-based eye damage test is not destructive; we can measure the same model again and again, and analyze whether or not the tissue recovers over the course of seven or even more days," says the biomedical scientist. This is not the case with a toxic category 1 substance, but with a category 2 chemical, the cell structure regenerates again within seven days, so it can be clearly classified whether there is irreversible or reversible damage. "Different chemicals can be applied to the in vitro tissue model within one test run, and we can even measure the regeneration. This is a novelty and not feasible until now. Whether the cell structure recovers after seven days could not be determined so far. Thanks to impedance spectroscopy, this is very successful with our tests."

The mobile impedance spectrometer for analyzing the in vitro tissue models is a quarter of the size of a thick book. In addition to an electrode plate for measuring electrical resistance, it includes a cell culture plate with tissue chambers for 24 cornea models and the electronics. For evaluation, the device is connected to a laptop. Due to its small size, it can easily be taken to the cell culture bench.

Multilaboratory study lays foundation for new OECD test guideline

A training set consisting of 70 substances - including acids, bases and other chemicals - from the various GHS categories was initially used for the tests. Currently, the reproducibility of the test is being demonstrated as part of a multi-laboratory study involving the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment and Goethe University. For this purpose, the laboratories are using an optimized, blinded validation set comprising 30 test substances. "With the multi-laboratory study, we want to prove that not only the Fraunhofer ISC can apply the novel, non-invasive measurement methodology, but also other research institutions," explains Lotz. The results will be used to decide whether a new globally recognized testing guideline will be developed within the OECD framework that meets regulatory needs and enables predictions of the effects of chemicals on human health and the environment without the use of animal testing. "We are confident that a new internationally recognized testing guideline will be available as an animal-free alternative in about two to three years."

Source: Fraunhofer ISC

The manufacturing industry is undergoing a transformation, as digitization is increasingly reaching frontline employees in manufacturing companies. Under the buzzword "Connected Work," they too are expected to benefit from full digital connectivity with their work environment. But in many companies, digital tools are still competing with mountains of paper - inefficient, costly media disruptions are the order of the day. 

With the Connected Work Study 2023, the software company Operations1 wanted to shed more light on the topic of "connected work in production". To this end, the company surveyed a total of 175 specialists from the production environment on the status quo, the future of Connected Work and the necessary implementation measures. The results were some significant and surprising findings that were presented to the public at the end of February 2023. 

Only 3 % of the companies surveyed work paperless to date

 Paper has played a central role in the production environment since the beginning of industrialization: from the provision of order papers to the safeguarding of process knowledge to the documentation of quality findings, labeled or printed sheets play a major role. And even more than 10 years after the term "Industry 4.0" was defined, it is still in use everywhere. Although there is much more to the concept of Connected Work than the mere digitization of paper documents, the responses of those surveyed show that Connected Work, while increasingly important, is far from having become a mass phenomenon: Only 3 % of the companies surveyed stated that they have worked completely paperless to date, while 18 % work exclusively with paper-based processes. 17 % describe themselves as largely paperless and 62 % are still partially so.

Although the majority of respondents still work in a paper-based manner, there is a consensus that paper is no longer an up-to-date relic in the age of digitization. The study participants associate a number of operational challenges with paper-based working methods: The three biggest issues are the time-consuming creation and updating of documents (44 %), data procurement, interpretation efforts and archiving (34 %), and non-value-added activities such as manual data transfer (29 %).

In each case, the entire production chain is affected by paper-based processes: From the provision and training of knowledge, through the execution of activities, to the documentation and evaluation of information. A decisive reason to say goodbye to paper as quickly as possible is the associated savings potential: the costs of paper management are in the five-digit range for 25 % of the respondents, and for 5 % even more than €200,000 per year. "Companies initially see creation effort and paper costs as key reasons for moving toward Connected Work. But deeper conversations quickly identify opportunities for six- to seven-figure savings potential through the introduction of intuitive, seamless processes on the store floor," explains Benjamin Brockmann, CEO and Co-Founder of Operations1.  

The future is "connected 

The majority of respondents have recognized the potential to make processes more effective and drastically reduce cost points with Connected Work. 69 % see Connected Work as the future. At 59 % of the participants, corresponding initiatives are already being driven forward in the company. 21 % of the respondents even stated that they have a Connected Work officer who is specifically dedicated to this topic. Nevertheless, the opinion picture is not uniform, as 26 % do not yet see any initiatives in the area of Connected Work in their company.

The study results underscore that although Connected Work is not yet a mass phenomenon, it is increasingly establishing itself strongly on the store floor. This is a new development, as operational employees in production, logistics and other production-related support processes have long been neglected in digitization. In recent years, there has been a growing trend to equip even the "deskless" employees with digital technologies and to better network them within the organization. This networking will significantly change the manufacturing industry in the coming years. "For the path to Connected Work to succeed in the long term, it is important to be constantly open and curious about the changes that connected work brings. Only in this way can we all derive maximum benefit from the numerous possibilities and opportunities that the manufacturing industry will be presented with," says Brockmann. 

Study results briefly summarized

• While 18 % work purely paper-based, 3 % of the respondents stated that they are already completely paperless. 17 % describe themselves as largely paperless and as many as 62 % are already partially so.
• Connected Work is not yet an established mass phenomenon, but about 70% of the participants see it as a future field and 21% have already created a specialized role for it in their company.
• The field of activity of operational employees will change significantly in the next 20 years: From standard to non-standard activities. At the same time, this will entail a rethinking of how employees can be supported digitally in the best possible way in the future.
• In the target picture, study participants see mobile apps as leading technologies for empowering employees. According to the respondents, the greatest potential of Connected Work lies in productivity increases, easier document creation and updating, securing process knowledge, and shortening response times for problem resolution.
• When implementing Connected Work, it is essential to take a systematic approach that involves operational employees in a far-sighted manner. The key success factor here is good communication.

Source: www.operations1.com

A wound accompanies the affected person for days or even weeks. And yet, even the first minutes after an injury are important. Minutes in which first aiders are at work. As a first step, they must be able to assess a wound correctly. However, the assessment and triage of different wound types can already be challenging for first responders: what can and may they treat themselves, what belongs to a doctor and what even directly to the hospital? The third First Aider Symposium will address precisely these and other questions on November 4, 2023. 

The correct methods of wound treatment

When first responders decide they want to be able to treat a wound themselves, the question of the right method arises. The treatment of a wound should support wound healing, prevent wound infections, relieve the patient's pain and minimize the formation of scars. Factors to consider include the type of injury, the age of the wound, the degree of contamination and whether an infection exists. Depending on this, an x-ray may be needed to detect foreign bodies in the wound. It is also important to ask about tetanus vaccination protection. And these are just a few of many aspects.

Even if the wounds are large and the first responders send the patients to the doctor or hospital, initial care must be provided by lay helpers. So how should large wounds be dealt with and what is needed at first-aider level?

Wound assessment and treatment: at the 2023 First Responder Symposium and workshops.

Such issues are often challenging for first responders. They are taught far too rarely in traditional courses. Today, first responders are often very competent in assessing and treating polytrauma, but wound assessment and treatment can be a problem. For precisely this reason, the 3rd First Aider Symposium on November 4, 2023, will be devoted to this topic in depth and comprehensively.

The First Aider Symposium addresses all first aiders, whether beginners, advanced or professionals, whether Samaritans, company paramedics, private or blue-light organizations. Top-class speakers present their views on the various steps of wound assessment and treatment for about an hour each and answer the questions of the participants. The presentations:

• Assessing different wound types: Assessing and Triaging (Dr. Jeannette Porath)
• Treatment of different wound types: Latest findings in wound treatment for the ambulance service (Dr. Christina Ruob).
• Large wounds: How to deal with them and what do first responders need to know? (Dr. Felix Brinkmann)
• Thinking outside the box: wound care in disaster and war (Kevin Krausse, NATO Special Operations Medical Technician)

However, the topic of wound assessment and treatment will not be over on the evening of November 4, 2023. In the weeks following the First Aider Symposium, the organizers will organize workshops during which participants can practice wound treatment in a very concrete and practical way in smaller groups for half a day.

Supporting program and added values

At the First Aider Symposium 2023, as usual, the supporting program and other added values are also important:

• After each presentation, there will be plenty of room and time to ask questions of the speakers.
• All presentations will be simultaneously translated from German into French.
• Hours count toward the IVR certificate and SGAS continuing education credits are available.
• In the foyer, various exhibitors present their products, courses or other services.
• In addition, the SVBS AWARD 2022 for the First Responders of the Year 2022 will be presented during the First Responders Symposium.

The joint event of the Swiss Association for Industrial Paramedics (SVBS) and HARTMANN was held for the first time in 2021 and was immediately sold out with 270 participants. The second First Aider Symposium in 2022 was also booked out to the last seat. The atmosphere among the participants, exhibitors and speakers was excellent in each case and the feedback was positive all round. Naturally, the third First Aider Symposium on November 4, 2023 in the KKL Luzern would like to build on this success.

Info: www.ersthelfersymposium.ch
Registrations: www.ersthelfersymposium.ch/index.php/anmeldung
Application deadline: September 30, 2023
Program: www.ersthelfersymposium.ch/index.php/programm
Speakers: www.ersthelfersymposium.ch/index.php/referenten

Olivier Perrin will be Skyguide's new Chief Safety & Security Officer from July 1, 2023. He joined skyguide in 2000 as a satellite navigation systems engineer. In 2010, he was promoted to head of military and regional aerodromes, and in 2014 he assumed additional responsibility for all military operations and lower airspace operations. Since 2018, he has headed Skyguide's ATM Virtual Centre division. The 48-year-old manager is an active private pilot and serves as a colonel in the Swiss Air Force, since 2017 as commander of the Air Traffic Control Technical Staff. Olivier Perrin holds a master's degree in geomatics engineering from EPFL and an MBA from Concordia University in Canada. He is married and the father of three young adults. "We are in the midst of a profound, technology-driven transformation process and I am very excited to help shape this process as part of the executive management team, while ensuring that the company continues to meet the highest safety standards," says Olivier Perrin.

Olivier Perrin will replace Klaus Affholderbach, who has been Chief Safety Officer and a member of the Executive Management since 2018. Klaus Affholderbach has held various positions at skyguide since joining the company in 2001, including Head of Air Traffic Management Geneva, Head of International Airports (Zurich and Geneva) and Head of the ATM Virtual Centre before Olivier Perrin. After 22 years with Skyguide, Klaus Affholderbach has decided to take a further career step as a partner in an international consulting firm and professional keynote speaker.

"Skyguide has an exemplary and deeply rooted safety culture. This is the result of many years of work under the leadership of Klaus Affholderbach. He has always impressed us with the depth and breadth of his knowledge and with his considered management style," says Alex Bristol, CEO of Skyguide. "I warmly welcome Olivier Perrin as a new member of the Executive Management. I am convinced that he is the right person to maintain our high safety standards by continuously investing in our safety culture. He is also the right person to lead the company through the next phases of transformation. I am very pleased to have him on our executive management team."

Succession planning for Olivier Perrin in his current role has been initiated, Skyguide adds.

Source: Skyguide

Thanks to its strong position in the technology industry, Microsoft is in a good position to set new trends. So when Satya Nadella saysthat business leaders need to go beyond digital transformation, then that is quite true. The digital imperative implies more than urgency. It implies a necessity. Digitalization efforts are not reserved for sophisticated companies with large technology budgets. They are necessary for "every organization in every industry."

The shift to digitization as a necessity signals the new major role that technology plays in our world. Technology no longer exists only on the periphery of business life. It has merged with so many processes, functions and people that it is at the center of daily operations. This is the true meaning of the digital imperative. It is integral to business functions and central to business growth.

What about digital transformation?

 Over the last decade, the digital transformation has led to companies at the forefront adopting a technology-based approach. It has initiated a rethink in modern companies and has significantly driven technological change.

What has changed is not the need for technology. It's the perennial idea of change. According to Nadella, executives don't need to rethink, rediscover or constantly transform their companies. The need for change has been identified - and the first digital cogs should already be in place. Digital transformation should already be in full swing at the enterprise level.  

Why necessarily the digital imperative now?

The question many are asking is: Why now? Why has digitization become so important now (and not, say, ten years ago)?

The shift toward a digital imperative is actually a legacy of the digital transformation movement. Business leaders have made digital investments. CIOs and IT staff have implemented new solutions and trained employees. And the business benefits have been quickly and clearly seen. For the companies that jumped on the digitalization bandwagon ten years ago, the "transformation" has paid off. Studies showthat companies that embraced digital transformation early on were better able to accelerate their digitization efforts, adapt quickly and continue to be successful. Late adopters found that their progress lagged behind those that were better prepared.

"While digital transformation used to be a strategy that enabled companies to stand out and stay ahead of their competitors, today it is a matter of survival. Digitalization has become urgent and necessary. It is now a must," holds Cosima von Kries. 

In which areas is digitization inevitable?

The digital imperative, like digital transformation, covers key areas of the business. Not every company is on the same path, but typically digitalization is critical to:

• Data Storage/Management: Recently, the cloud has emerged as the key to data storage and management, replacing legacy, on-premise systems. Storage in the cloud offers its users more security and flexibility, as it can be scaled quickly and security updates and patches are taken care of.
• Collaboration systems: Collaboration app sales boomed during the pandemic, when remote workers needed new tools to collaborate effectively. Collaboration tools facilitate a remote/hybrid work model while enabling more structured communication in the office.
• Productivity Tools: Technologies that drive productivity are currently at the top of the corporate agenda. These include automation tools, workflow tools and applications that can track productivity throughout the lifecycle of a project. These tools not only provide an increase in employee productivity, but also typically include data profiling that enables better decision making.

The digital imperative: a call to action

Until now, digitization was a decision made by the company's management. The word "transformation" was used to help executives get started with the digitization process. It describes the metamorphosis from outdated methods to new technologies. Now that many digital systems are in place, a new era of digitization is beginning. A company that successfully uses automation tools, collaboration apps, AI-powered technologies, and cloud-based systems will compete - in numerous and diverse ways. 

Digital transformation is no longer an option for business leaders. Nor is digitization something radical, sophisticated, or easily implemented overnight. The digital imperative is first and foremost a call to action. It heralds a new era. And it calls on the laggards of digitization to adapt - and quickly.

Source reference: 

• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-imperative-every-organization-satya-nadella/?trackingId=3FHeuQsbQSSIXOtFbjepbg%3D%3D
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/04/07/digital-transformation-is-coming-of-age/?sh=6c77e35a74ee

Source: Nintex

Digitalization and efficient quality management in industry require more than digital technologies. Companies that want to use them to optimize their costs and production must start thinking in terms of digital processes. In addition, the supply chain in industrial companies does not end at the factory gate. Before a product reaches the end customer in the desired quality, numerous suppliers often contribute components. In addition to internal workflows, external workflows with suppliers and, in the final stage, with customers are also the norm. Computer-aided quality (CAQ) as a cross-plant quality management solution simplifies such processes enormously. What an intelligent CAQ application can do today can be explained using the workflow-oriented software developed by Fabasoft Approve for data and document management in industry.

What Computer-Aided Quality must achieve today

With computer-aided quality assurance in incoming and outgoing goods inspection or document, complaint and test equipment management, innovative production companies can digitize essential processes from start to finish, across multiple plants. A CAQ system fulfills the following important requirements in terms of optimized quality management:

• Bring together quality-relevant information: CAQ establishes a cross-plant connection of essential quality-relevant information. This includes, for example, different ERP data such as technical documents or contractual agreements.
• Engage all relevant stakeholders: Both internal and external partners are integrated into cross-company quality management processes in accordance with their access authorizations. A shared data environment enables location-independent access to documents and at the same time meets the highest requirements in terms of data protection and security.
• Integrate and consolidate data: Especially for large, globally operating companies, the support of a CAQ system is indispensable. This aggregates data from different plants and collects it on one platform. This allows companies to standardize their quality processes.
• Flexibly carry out modifications: No two industrial operations are the same. Especially those who manufacture specialized and individual products depend on the fact that digital workflows can be modified at any time. A CAQ environment should therefore ideally be flexible enough to adapt to changing internal requirements at any time.

An issue for SMEs in particular

"With a CAQ system, small and medium-sized companies as well as global corporations can take their quality management to a whole new level. For example, our customer Siemens Energy has now digitized quality-relevant processes along the entire value chain at 14 locations in eight countries," explains Andreas Dangl, Managing Director of Fabasoft Approve GmbH, a European software provider for technical data and document management in industry. "As a specialist for industrial solutions in the power generation and transmission segment, which are also installed in critical infrastructures, quality assurance is essential for Siemens Energy. Our CAQ system actively integrates suppliers into quality management. As a result, Siemens Energy benefits from an increase in the quality of individual components as well as overall products."

Source and further information: www.fabasoft.com/approve

The term resilience is first familiar from the environment of stress management: a resilient person is good at dealing with stress and crises, quickly regaining their equilibrium so they can continue to act and react. Simply put, a resilient person can handle disruption well. But what does the term mean in the context of production processes? And what does it have to do with manufacturing IT?

Resilience and Industry 4.0

Resilience is now also one of the top issues in the Industry 4.0 environment. In a white paper published by the Platform Industry 4.0 defines resilience as follows: "Entrepreneurial resilience is the ability of a company to withstand external shocks or upheavals in the social, economic or political environment and to adapt to new conditions. To this end, the white paper sorts various measures on the one hand into the strategic fields of action of the "Leitbild 2030 der Plattform Industrie 4.0". On the other hand, they are assigned to the three impact phases of preparation, mitigation and adaptation.

So in industry, resilience means that manufacturing companies make preparations to be more resilient. In the event of a disruption, the impact should be as mild as possible. It is also a matter of considering possible adjustments to better deal with changed circumstances. This closes the circle, because the latter adjustments form the starting point for preparing for new disruptions. The distinction according to the strategic fields of action (according to the mission statement 2030 of the Industrie 4.0 platform: sustainability, interoperability and sovereignty) will be discussed again later.

Flexibility and adaptability

To better understand resilience in the Industrie 4.0 environment, it is useful to distinguish between flexibility and adaptability:

• Flexibility means that a company or production can respond to disruptions or requirements at short notice and temporarily. After a certain time, the situation returns to normal.
• Mutability on the other hand, means that production can change to be able to cope with the new conditions in the long term and permanently.

Resilience requires both skills, flexibility and mutability. The methods differ depending on the capability. Therefore, it is important to identify early on how to respond: flexibly or adaptively - i.e., short-term and temporarily or long-term and permanently. Example: A company should react flexibly to the failure of an expected delivery - rather adaptably to the insolvency of an important supplier or the failure of a delivery route.

Excursus: Matrix production

Beyond resilience, matrix production is another Industrie 4.0 trend that has significant implications for manufacturing IT. According to the expertise of the research advisory board of the Industrie 4.0 platform, "Implementation of cyber-physical matrix production systems," such systems are "characterized by a modular structure, flexible control and interlinking of production resources, and a high level of information technology networking." Here, both flexibility and mutability play an essential role, since there are short-term requirements on the one hand and long-term changes in plans on the other. The document also introduces the concept of reconfigurability. This describes the ability of a production system to be reconfigured as required within the change corridor (cf. changeability). In a matrix production, the capabilities that support resilience are used proactively to use the available resources more efficiently. Thus, a matrix production benefits from resilience.

Example: In contrast to a production line, changes can be deliberately brought about in matrix production in order to manufacture other products or products in other batch sizes at short notice - either temporarily or permanently.

Sustainability, interoperability and sovereignty

Resilience builds on the three strategic action areas of sustainability, interoperability, and sovereignty. Sustainability goes far beyond the economical use of resources. Rather, it includes everything that is necessary for production to take place at all. In particular, the role of people as well as education and work organization are of importance here. Interoperability means both the interaction of different (IT) systems and standardization along supply chains. And Sovereignty includes not only security of supply, but also IT security issues and the development of new technologies. Even though these are all big words, there are many starting points for manufacturing IT. Concrete examples illustrate this.

Examples of manufacturing IT in the sustainability field of action:

• The energy management of production IT records consumption of all kinds and makes energy consumption plannable. As a result, external disruptions can be translated more quickly into changes to plans. In addition, targeted savings measures ensure that cost increases have as little impact as possible on production costs.
• Worker management as part of assembly processes ensures that even unskilled employees are quickly trained. This in turn is a good measure to counteract the shortage of skilled workers. On the assembly process modeling side, low-code and no-code ensure that fewer programmers are needed, which are also in short supply on the labor market.
• By means of qualification-based workforce scheduling, human capital is optimally utilized. At the same time, employees' skills can be tested and promoted on a time-controlled basis.

Examples of manufacturing IT in the field of action Interoperability:

• Based on open platform approaches, applications from different providers can be easily combined with each other. This creates a living ecosystem and significantly reduces dependence on individual providers. MPDV Mikrolab GmbH has developed the Manufacturing Integration Platform (MIP) for this purpose. More than 50 providers have already developed so-called mApps for the MIP, which can be combined with each other as desired.
• Manufacturing IT functions for material and inventory management ensure that it is always known when which material is needed and whether sufficient material is available in production or in the warehouse. This makes it easier to deal with disruptions in the supply chain.

Examples of manufacturing IT in the sovereignty action area:

• By using modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, manufacturing IT gets the most out of its own data. This enables manufacturing companies to identify deviations earlier and react to them more quickly.
• If quality assurance is also integrated into the production IT system, a holistic supplier evaluation can be carried out thanks to the comprehensive use of quality data. The aim here is to be able to compensate for any disruptions in the supply chains with alternative procurement options.

Manufacturing IT: Equipped for the future

Ultimately, resilience is based on the sum of many measures and methods for preparation, mitigation and adaptation. At the same time, a broad spectrum of fields of action has an influence on the resilience of production. From a distance, it doesn't look like manufacturing IT plays an important role. But the opposite is the case: manufacturing IT has a small impact, but in total it has a large impact on the whole. Depending on the company, different use cases are more or less relevant.

Author:
Markus Diesner is Senior Marketing Specialist Products at MPDV. You can find another article by this author here.

New quality indicators for hospitals and the software "Qlize!" were developed from several research projects at the University of Lucerne funded by the Swiss Agency for Innovation Promotion (Innosuisse). The development was led by Dr. Dr. Michael Havranek, Research Director of the Competence Center for Health Data Science, in cooperation with industry partner INMED and various hospital partners. The indicators have now become part of the mandatory measurement plan of the National Association for Quality Development in Hospitals and Clinics (ANQ). ANQ licenses and finances the software system and makes it available to all Swiss hospitals and clinics as well as to the cantonal health departments. The final part of the program's "rollout" took place on February 17.

Initial focus on unplanned re-entries

In an initial phase, thirteen quality indicators on unplanned readmissions after hospitalization will be used to assess the quality of treatment provided by hospitals. However, the software includes more than 30 additional quality indicators on complications and deaths during hospitalization, which can also be used in the future. All indicators were developed using internationally established principles, which were further developed based on the conditions of the Swiss healthcare system and tested together with seven hospital partners.

The special feature of the software developed is that it enables hospitals to analyze their own treatment quality down to the smallest detail. On the one hand, the hospitals can check their own quality results in a statistical comparison with other hospitals. On the other hand, they can also narrow down their results across different patient groups down to the individual case and relate them to expected rates from prediction models. The prediction models used for this purpose were calculated on the basis of all Swiss hospitalizations and use methods from the field of artificial intelligence.

Data protection compliant approach

In order to be able to offer such detailed evaluation options at all, despite the strict data protection requirements, it was necessary to develop a two-stage procedure. First, the data supplied by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) for the whole of Switzerland is evaluated annually in order to provide the hospitals with their official quality results in statistical comparison with the other hospitals. Subsequently, the calculated prediction models are applied to the data provided by the hospitals themselves to enable them to make case-based comparisons with the expected rates.

In this way, it is possible for hospitals to analyze targeted groups of patients or even individual cases. For example, they can identify cases in which a low probability of a quality-relevant event (such as an unplanned readmission) was predicted, but such an event nevertheless occurred (e.g., due to a surgical complication). In order to communicate the diverse evaluation options in this regard, Michael Havranek had held two nationwide training events with simultaneous translation in French and Italian at the beginning of February on behalf of the ANQ, which were attended by around 150 hospitals.

Source: University of Lucerne

In recent years, the cloud has become somewhat synonymous with IT as organizations seek greater business agility and improved operational efficiency through the technology they use. Although these trends have been around for some time, more than 90 % of respondents agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic was a strong driver for greater interest and investment in cloud technology.

The path to a multicloud strategy

As companies faced new challenges, such as increasing telecommuting and working with new business partners and suppliers, they adopted a multicloud strategy to get the flexibility and scalability they needed to address this new reality. "The 'one-stop store' mentality is dead when it comes to the cloud. Instead, multicloud is the reality of enterprise technology environments as companies try to get the right mix of solutions and capabilities they need to operate effectively," said Melanie Posey, research director, Cloud & Managed Services Transformation at 451 Research. That company conducted a study on behalf of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. It gathered information from 1500 enterprise respondents (organizations with more than 1,000 full-time employees in North America or more than 500 in other regions) on how they use the cloud in their organizations. It found that almost every cloud journey is becoming a multicloud journey. "Multicloud is here to stay, and organizations are choosing it because of the benefits it offers for a range of different business and operational needs, such as enterprise flexibility or access to best-in-class technology."

Almost every cloud journey is multicloud

According to the survey, 98 % of respondents use or plan to use at least two cloud infrastructure providers, and 31 % use four or more. Ninety-six % said they use or plan to use at least two cloud application (software-as-a-ser-vice) providers, with 45 % using cloud applications from five or more providers. This multicloud strategy enables IT departments to meet the specific technology needs of different teams across the enterprise.

The top two drivers of enterprise multicloud strategies are data sovereignty (41 %) and cost optimization (40 %). Other drivers of multicloud strategies include enterprise agility and innovation (30 %), best-in-class cloud services and applications (25 %), and cloud vendor dependency concerns (25 %). Multicloud strategies give organizations more control over where and how their data is stored and used. They also ensure that enterprises can control the cost of their cloud operations by adjusting which services they use from different providers.

Various use cases

Data redundancy (54 %) is the most anticipated future use case, followed by data mobility (49 %) and cost optimization via public clouds (42 %). IT departments also plan to use multicloud strategies to mitigate risk across the IT environment (40 %) and geographic expansion or global service delivery (38 %). The fact that IT departments are planning multicloud strategies shows that they see this as an opportunity to stay ahead of their technology needs, and not just as a tactic to respond to crisis situations.

"Multicloud is a reality whether enterprises are ready for it or not. Enterprise mergers can transform even the most robust IT strategies into a multicloud environment overnight," said Leo Leung, vice president, OCI and Oracle Technology. "Whether IT teams are starting their multicloud plans from scratch or already have an implementation but want to add best-in-class cloud services, OCI's distributed cloud can help. With the recent launch of MySQL HeatWave on AWS and Oracle Data-base Service for Microsoft Azure, customers have even more options to make their multicloud strategies a success."

Source: Oracle

AtlasVR has developed a VR software platform that opens up new possibilities for industrial training and remote support. The startup targets machine manufacturers in the mechanical engineering, electrical and metal industries, offering virtual training modules tailored to their customers' specific use cases.

VR training solutions with advantages

VR training has many advantages: it requires no prior VR-specific knowledge or technical expertise, is location-independent, and eliminates the need for direct interaction with equipment and raw materials, making training safer, more accessible, and more cost-effective. This solution also addresses the skills gap and shortage, while helping customers serving a global customer base, as the VR training solution can be delivered with machines or equipment sold.

Investment won from Venture Kick

The company is targeting the global market for frontline worker training, which was CHF 16 billion in 2021 and continues to grow at a CAGR of 16 %. AtlasVR has acquired several reference customers, including suissetec, Swisscom and RhySearch, and has around 80 leads in the pipeline. The startup will invest the CHF 150,000 awarded by Venture Kick in business development to prepare the product launch of its scalable and customizable VR training platform.

ETH spinoff

The company, which has now grown to a team of eight and plans to hire more employees by 2023, was founded by Joy Gisler, Dr. Valentin Holzwarth and Christian Hirt, all of whom hail from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, where they researched VR training applications in mechanical engineering and computer science.

"Venture Kick's push to connect with potential customers not only helped us gain a foothold in the market, but also made us attractive to investors," Holzwarth says. "That was exactly what we needed as a tech startup team."

Source: Venture Kick / AtlasVR