Mayer & Cie. takes digitalization an
opportunity to continue to be a step ahead of the competition and is working on
collecting and bundling machine and quality-relevant process data through
digitization.
The company is already in its initial implementation
phase, aiming to establish a continuous data flow across all its interfaces.
Sebastian Mayer, the member of the Management in
charge of corporate development, said “There is no such thing as digitization
per se. There are different areas in which it can be of relevance for us as an
engineering company. They include, for example, digitization of production and
the value chain, digitization of the organization and of collaboration, and
digitization of the product itself. Each angle has different challenges and benefits.
Within this framework every company must decide for itself what makes sense and
when.”
The circular knitting machine builder has already
taken the first step: identifying approaches that are meaningful and relevant
for the company. They consist mainly of ensuring data quality and continuity on
the basis of sustainable future-oriented technologies.
Specifically, that means, systematically collecting
circular knitting machine data. Data continuity and the seamless automated flow
of collected data to its destination without perceptible interruptions play a
special role.
“The classic example of discontinuity is the Excel
spreadsheet that one employee feeds with data he has collected from an existing
database in order to send it to a colleague who then inputs it by hand into
another system,” Sebastian Mayer said, describing a practice that is far from
uncommon.
In addition, Mayer & Cie. has laid the
technical groundwork for change by introducing a new ERP system. It has also set
its next target as measures to improve customer satisfaction through providing
remote technical support and setting up a Web shop.
In future, all these measures will lead to a
comprehensive customer portal where customers can access centrally anything
they need to know about their machines and communicate with Mayer & Cie. or
its representatives.