Holistic productivity management using digitalization

Abstract

Holistic approaches for designing and developing enterprises and production systems are well-proven for years. They are still crucial when digitalization is introduced. Digitalization brings new opportunities regarding the collection, transfer, processing, providing and usage of data. An integrated application of these new opportunities for handling data can support holistic approaches and leads to what is defined as Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things or Smart/Advanced Manufacturing. This contribution emphasizes on describing three basic elements of holistic approaches for managing productivity in production companies: Deriving goals for all management levels, designing work for reaching defined goals and continuous improvement for considering further potentials. The opportunities of digitalization for supporting each of these elements are elaborated in detail. Finally, a holistic implementation of digitalization by the help of a stepwise approach is described which can be supported by a detailed checklist.