Measure planning is focused on the actions which need to be executed to achieve the previously mentioned objectives for the digitalization of the organization and under consideration of the status quo analysis. The action recommendations for Bender Tribünen are supposed to specify a certain path to reach the set objectives and vision.
The action plan for Bender Tribünen will be divided into the six categories of Indus-try 4.0, namely, “Strategy and Organization”, “Smart Products”, “Smart Operations”,
“Smart Factory”, “Data-driven Services” and “Employees”.
1. Strategy and Organization: “Strategy and Organization” is the category, which is fundamental for the whole implementation of actions for digitaliza-tion. The action recommendations for the area of “Strategy and Organization”
are derived with respect to the objectives of this category.
First of all, the investment budget for the digitalization project has to be spec-ified in terms of the areas of investment and the regular cycle of investing.
Here it is indispensable that Bender Tribünen establishes an investment plan for the needed areas, for example, new technologies for more connectivity be-tween systems, products and plants, intensive trainings for employees or in-vesting in data analysis software to be able to use big data for further
devel-opments, etc. For an optimal steering of the investments, Bender Tribünen needs to know the exact financial capabilities of the company to understand what investments can be done. An important question connected with the in-vestment is the financing of the inin-vestment. When the company has chosen the new investments, it needs to decide on how to finance the new acquisi-tions. There are three basic types of financing, which are commonly used.
The first is equity financing, which generates the needed financial support with investment in the company. The second option is traditional debt financ-ing through bank loans. The third possibility is public financfinanc-ing through crowdfunding or similar financing methods. There are several more financing methods, which could be used for this case (Seiter, Grünert, & Berlin, 2017, p.
41).
Another important aspect of “Strategy and Organization” is the innovation process for a continuous development of potential in terms of Industry 4.0.
For the innovation of new products, processes and other organizational as-pects, the company needs two basic things to push innovation forward. Firstly, as mentioned in Chapter 3.2.1 the company needs the right information for example, preferences on the market, wishes of the customers, satisfaction fac-tors of the customers and buying motives of the current and potential custom-ers of the companies. Secondly, Bender Tribünen needs the solution for tech-nical possibilities and potential to be able to transfer the needs and wishes of the current and potential customers of the company into a physical product or service product which can be accepted by the client. Bender Tribünen can implement an outside-in-process to receive information for innovation. This process enriches the internal knowledge of the company through both exter-nal knowledge of customers, suppliers or partners and active transfer of tech-nologies out of other companies and universities. Another essential source of information is the data collection throughout the whole product-life-cycle.
The data which is collected during the production and the use of the client can be processed for innovation and result in a higher chance of acceptance and success when launching the innovation on the market. Thirdly, Bender Tribünen can make use of the integrative approach of push innovation for-ward in the organization. This means that all departments in the company are trained in developing innovations for their specific areas with regards to the
customer satisfaction and preferences of the market (Schwenker, 2017, p. 18;
Chesbrough, 2002, p. 171).
2. Smart Products: Bender Tribünen has developed already some products into
“Smart Products” with the adaptation and equipment of components, which have integrated systems to track the location of the product and display prod-uct information. “Smart Prodprod-ucts” involve a large set of possible functionali-ties, for example, the collection of data, analysis of data, connection with oth-er “Smart Products” or systems, usage of globally available data and soth-ervices and implementation of multimodal human-machine-interfaces for a more dig-ital handling of the products (Jasperneite, p. 17).
Bender Tribünen needs to analyze the potential of additional components to the existing products to be able to receive relevant information of the prefer-ences of the customer and the needs of the customer to further evolve the of-fered products of the company. Since the product specifications are based on a scaffolding system, there is not one product, which is offered and sold to the customer, rather than a very flexible “Lego” construction kit. The attach-ment of interfaces to the product itself is difficult, because the specs of the grandstand or stage can vary from customer to customer. Nevertheless, a widespread coverage of GPS-trackers would be useful to prevent shrinkage and theft of the product components. Additional integrated systems like the implementation of sensors, which analyze the attrition of the components can help to initiate maintenance works on the used material. Integrated displays in the back of the seats could generate added value for the end consumer of the product. Visitors of events could access event information through the dis-plays mounted in front of them. The negative aspect is that the disdis-plays are connected with high production costs and the atmospheric condition can easi-ly cause damage at the displays. The offered products of Bender Tribünen provide fewer possibilities to install and integrate system components to the products of the company. The recommendation is to continue the integration of GPS-Trackers to the components to use the information for precise deliv-ery times and ensure theft and shrinkage of the components (Kagermann, Wahlster, & Helbig, Umsetzungsempfehlungen für das Zukunftsprojekt Industrie 4.0, 2013, p. 39).
3. Smart Operations: The most important action recommendation in the area of “Smart Operations” is the implementation of an IT Security system, which is capable of protecting the existing data from leakage, theft, espionage and willful harm by hackers. With the increase in implemented systems, which connect with product systems, production systems, enterprise resource plan-ning systems and other systems in the organization, the IT Security is indis-pensable (Bechtold, Kern, Lauenstein, & Bernhofer, 2014, p. 24).
The company needs to analyze the potential information sharing across the whole value-chain of the company. Different ERP systems offer an infor-mation sharing system across the whole organization, to ensure better munication within the organization. This includes all departments of a com-pany like accounting, sales, production, logistics, management, etc. In addi-tion to the internal informaaddi-tion sharing opportunities, the company needs to evaluate the potential of external information sharing with suppliers, partners and customers, to receive more data and information about delivery status of suppliers, demand status of the company and customer preferences (Bechtold, Kern, Lauenstein, & Bernhofer, 2014, p. 61).
4. Smart Factory: Currently, Bender Tribünen has no machines and plants, which are collecting and analyzing data for further usage. The characteristics of the production at Bender GmbH are focused on individual production, be-cause every customer defines a completely new specification of the compo-nents. That is why autonomous production as well as mass production should not be the goal for the production plant. Nevertheless, the machines and plants need to be analyzed and checked for potential updates and improve-ments for generating data and for equipping machines with interfaces for a more digital use. Since the sale of the products is not the main business of Bender Tribünen, the focus of the company is not on the production but in-stead on the maintenance of the components in the warehouse, which is a part of the renting business of the company. The rental of the event infrastructure accounts for more than 75% of the yearly turnover, which sets a definite fo-cus on the renting business (Müller, 2015, S. 9; Bechtold, Kern, Lauenstein,
& Bernhofer, 2014, p. 34).
5. Data-driven Services: Bender Tribünen needs to analyze the potential of es-tablishing new “Data-driven services” for enlarging the product range and achieving higher customer satisfaction. The company could integrate WiFi systems in the construction for their event infrastructure to enable the end consumer to access the internet when visiting the events. This feature brings an added value to the product for the direct client and for the end consumer.
Currently, the mobile event infrastructure companies are not offering such a service. This service would solve the problem of connecting to the internet within a crowd of thousands of people. The visitors to the events were always able to access the internet to share their experiences and emotions at the event, which leads to additional advertising of the organized events of the customer.
Visitors could be informed about latest news about the event, special offers of the event organizer or information about upcoming events. More “Data-driven services” can be analyzed and introduced to support and enlarge the product range of the company (Bauernhansel, Hompel, & Vogel-Heuser, 2014, p. 407).
6. Employees: Bender Tribünen should invest in training the skills of the em-ployees to handle new Industry 4.0 technologies, which are introduced to the organization. Further education in specific areas should be focused on, be-cause the change to a digital company requires deeper knowledge and under-standing about IT systems and programs. Employees work could be support-ed by multimsupport-edia assistance systems for a merger of the virtual and real world. Examples for such assistance systems are augmented reality glasses, which give digital information about real world objects. Also the help of vir-tual reality could open up new possibilities for developing products and working together with colleagues or clients on projects. Bender Tribünen needs to integrate the employees in the decision making process to motivate the employees for the change to a digital organization. Besides the accurate planning, investing and innovating of the Industry 4.0 potential, the employee is a crucial factor to make successful implementation of the Industry 4.0 technologies possible (Azuma, Baillot, Behringer, Feiner, Julier, & Mac Intyre, 2002, p. 34; Bauernhansel, Hompel, & Vogel-Heuser, 2014, p. 488).