As well as promising faster and more efficient manufacturing processes, digitally connected industrial production in the context of Industrie 4.0 also provides opportunities to design and implement new business models. Companies need to be extremely agile, flexible and good at learning in order to adapt dynamically to a disruptive environment. In addition to building and refining the necessary technological (artificial intelligence) and data-based (big data and cloud solutions) capabilities, companies must also make the relevant adjustments to their organisational structure and corporate culture.

This publication is an update of the original acatech STUDY published in 2017. Featuring updated text and illustrations, it describes the concept of the acatech Industrie 4.0 Maturity Index, which provides companies with guidance for their own individual transformation process. The Index is based on a six-stage maturity model that analyses the capabilities in the structural areas of  resources, information systems, culture and organisational structure that are required by companies operating in a digitalised industrial environment.

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Manufacturing builds an important sector in most economies worldwide. Industrialization and automatization have entailed great advances in production processes over the past two centuries. Today, seeking for market leadership implies a worldwide footprint representation. In this environment, a company’s long-term competitiveness is strongly depending on agility which enables faster adaptation to changing and diverse requirements. Simultaneously, many companies struggle with achieving the performance targets for their production and supporting processes in the short term. Digital Transformation on the path to Industrie 4.0. allows to successively advance both agility and operational performance.

This paper reveals, how manufacturing companies are managing their individual path towards Industrie 4.0.

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