Manager 4.1

Eleven Fribourg-based companies joined forces as a consortium over a period of 30 months under the coordination of Fribourg’s Chamber of Commerce and guidance from the School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg. Their aim was to test and share tools and methods allowing for an accelerated transition to Industry 4.0 standards and practices. By consolidating the resources and strengths of Fribourg’s industrial sector, participating companies became better equipped to meet the challenge of this technical revolution.

 Observation of this innovative experiment made it possible to identify new needs for Fribourg’s industrial base and to define the essential R&D and tech transfer resources required by Industry 4.0. One of the biggest observed difficulties was the challenge of achieving digital integration vertically and horizontally. The first implementations of Industry 4.0 revealed a state of discontinuity and gaps in the availability of data, confirming that data integration is currently a major obstacle and one of the critical points of the transformation. A typical company attempting to adopt Industry 4.0 standards in the current environment will encounter a meagre potential for horizontal digital integration with its clients both in B2C and B2U horizontal relationships. It will also find only limited possibilities to achieve vertical digital integration with suppliers. This is due to the persistence of legacy purchasing practices and systems, including the complete absence of digitalization in requests for proposals and in the analysis of offers.

 It is hoped that a better understanding of Industry 4.0 solutions and of the key role played by data integration in their success will lead more companies to upgrade their practices. The following pilot projects were launched in support of this transition and to determine the potential for broader initiatives:

•  Should-Costing testing. The project aims to obtain a detailed understanding of the mechanisms involved in determining the cost structure of a product. Using Machine Learning technology integrated with CAD development platforms, the project will facilitate cost assessments. It also seeks to digitalize and dematerialize both requests for proposals and the process of collecting and analyzing supplier offers, identifying the most impactful levers on this front.
• Digital Marketing. This initial digital marketing project will promote dematerialization of the relationship with customers by means of digital tracking of Net Promoter Score on social networks. This will result in a more continuous and accurate understanding of a company’s competitive positioning.

 An Audit platform made available to companies in SaaS mode will make it possible to steer and monitor future transformation projects and to launch collaborative ecosystems in which companies can share experiences, tools and resources.

In this manner, Connect Manager 4.1 will support the emergence of a regional industrial alliance at the service of the transition to Industry 4.0.