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.