Networked production plants, real-time communication between machines or intelligent robots continue to make inroads. (Image: Gerd Altmann/Pixabay)

Already today, 6 out of 10 companies use Industry 4.0 applications. In addition, the Corona pandemic could provide a sustained digitization push in the coming months, according to the latest Bitkom study in Germany.

95 percent of industrial companies with 100 or more employees confirm that digitization has become more important in their company in the wake of the Corona pandemic. Industry 4.0 is now an issue for all larger industrial companies.

Almost two-thirds of companies (62 percent) are already using special applications such as networked production facilities, real-time communication between machines or intelligent robots. This is a slight increase on the previous year (59 percent). Three years ago, the proportion was just 49 percent. One in five (21 percent) are currently planning to use Industrie 4.0. A further 16 percent are not yet taking any concrete steps, but can imagine doing so in the future. For the first time, no major industrial company now states that Industrie 4.0 is not an issue.

IoT platforms and 5G for connected production

Currently, 4 out of 10 industrial companies with 100 or more employees use IoT platforms that allow data from devices, machines and plants to be consolidated and evaluated at a central location. One in three (32 percent) plan to use them in the future. Only for just under one in five (19 percent) are IoT platforms currently not an issue. “IoT platforms lay the foundation for digital value-added services. They add further functions to physical products, enabling predictive maintenance, for example,” says Bitkom CEO Dr. Bernhard Rohleder.

The new 5G mobile communications standard is of outstanding importance for networked production: 85 percent of industrial companies now consider the availability of 5G to be important for their own company, compared with just 72 percent a year ago. Conversely, the proportion of companies that consider 5G unimportant has halved from 26 to 13 percent.

Still hardly any pioneers on the horizon

Companies that are already using Industrie 4.0 applications or planning to do so have tended to increase their activities during the Corona crisis. 18 percent increased their investment in Industrie 4.0 significantly during the period, and another 24 percent somewhat. Only 14 percent have reduced spending somewhat. Just 9 percent significantly. In one in three companies (32 percent), nothing has changed.

95 percent see Industry 4.0 as an opportunity for their own company, only 4 percent consider it a risk. However, the corresponding opportunities are far from being exhausted: Not even one in three industrial companies in Germany (31 percent) currently sees itself as a pioneer in Industry 4.0, while more than one in two (54 percent) describes itself as a laggard. One in nine (11 percent) even thinks they have missed the boat. “Digitization is also developing exponentially in production. This means that those who start later have to work all the harder,” says Rohleder.

Data protection and IT security as obstacles

Companies are currently experiencing a variety of obstacles that are hampering the use of Industrie 4.0 applications. For example, 77 percent would like to invest more and complain about a lack of financial resources. 61 percent feel hindered by data protection requirements. 57 percent by IT security requirements.

One in two companies (55 percent) lacks skilled staff. A similar number (52 percent) feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the issue. 48 percent complain about the susceptibility of systems to faults. 29 percent feel there is a lack of exchange with other companies, and one in four companies (25 percent) does not have enough time to deal with the issue. In contrast, a lack of external advice (14 percent), a lack of knowledge about best practice solutions (12 percent), a lack of standards (11 percent) or insufficient availability of marketable solutions (10 percent) play only a minor role. Just 9 percent complain about a lack of acceptance among the workforce. Not at all an obstacle is a too low level of automation in the own company to be able to use Industrie 4.0 applications or an uncertainty about the economic benefit.

For the representative study on the digitization of German industry commissioned by the digital association Bitkom, 551 industrial companies with 100 or more employees were surveyed in February and March 2021. Click here for the official presentation of the study.

Parts of this article were translated with DeepL-Translator.