Production 4.0

Former Audi IT executives André Ziemke and Dr. Thomas Stöckel describe from practical experience how the production of the future (Production 4.0) can actually be implemented and why the automotive industry should not wait any longer. Together with futurist Lars Thomsen, they analyze on a timeline when and how electric mobility, autonomous driving, and robotics will change the automotive market – and how these topics, coupled with digitization trends, will produce a transformation in the industry under the catch phrase Industry 4.0. In the near future, the business model will no longer exclusively involve the sale of products – but above all, the sale of data and mobility. Electric cars are taking the complexity out of production, and new competitors such as Tesla, Google, and Apple are already in their starting blocks. With such upheavals, individual initiatives by established manufacturers in the context of Industry 4.0 will not be enough for them to survive this basic Change process unscathed. The authors totally rethink manufacturing – and not just for automobiles – based on current technologies while pointing to practical paths to the future.