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Almost every fourth German industrial company now classifies the probability of its business model being affected by a disruptive attacker within the next two years as “high” or even “very high.” For comparison: Just a year ago, only 16 percent of companies could imagine such a short-term attack. This has been illustrated by the “German Industry 4.0 Index” from business consultancy Staufen. For the study, the experts from Staufen Digital Neonex surveyed around 450 industrial companies in Germany.

According to the German Industry 4.0 Index, Industry 4.0 and the use of industrial Internet platforms have become a essential aspect for every other company. However, medium-sized companies, in particular, continue to insufficiently exploit the potential of these platforms. It is often dominated by individual solutions and simple technical exercises. For the German Industry 4.0 Index, business consultancy Staufen together with experts from Staufen Digital Neonex surveyed around 450 industrial companies in Germany.

Staufen AG can look back on a successful year in 2018 with sales growth of 16%. Meanwhile, 320 employees work for the consulting company. With its international offices, digital subsidiary Neonex and Staufen Academy, the consultancy offers a wide range of support to customers in industry and many other sectors in times of great change.

Susanna Hess-Kalcher is now Staufen Americas second Managing Director. Together with Arturo Medellín, she will continue to drive business of the Staufen subsidiary in North and Central America. “I look forward to expanding business in North and Central America with Susanna Hess-Kalcher. She has proven herself as an expert of the region,” says Staufen Americas Managing Director Arturo Medellín. Originally from Cologne, she has been advising German SMEs in Latin America for 25 years. Since 2007, she acted as Managing Director of the German Centre Mexico, a subsidiary of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg.

Large, orange and sitting behind a protective barrier – Germans’ idea of robots in the realm of work has not changed for years. Because of this, 71 percent of employees still see robots’ field of application, especially in industry, is for dangerous or physically demanding work. However, only 41 percent could imagine robots as service providers or service personnel, while only 14 percent could see them being used in nursing care applications. These are the results of a representative survey of more than 1,000 employees in Germany conducted by business consultancy Staufen.

German industry primarily uses big data for quality management. Approximately seven out of ten companies with Industry 4.0 applications evaluate the data they generate during production in order to monitor the quality of their products. As the 2018 German Industry 4.0 Index from business consultancy Staufen shows, the electrical industry is leading the way. However, companies are far from really fully exploiting the potential of big data. Despite evaluating data, companies’ analyses have so far failed to trace the causes of quality problems, as a joint research project by Staufen and TU Darmstadt has demonstrated.

This year, according to the current “brand eins” study, Staufen AG is once again one of the country’s leading consulting firms. This is the first time that the renowned sector study by brand eins and Statista has counted Staufen AG as one of the top consultancies in another key sector. Customers wasted no time in awarding them the highest score for the consulting field of organization.

Three quarters of German industrial companies are not convinced about predictive maintenance. Their performance capability is not sufficient or, at least still upgradeable. Only 6 percent currently see applying predictive maintenance on the basis of process and machine data as being highly beneficial. These are the results of what is now the fourth German Industry 4.0 Index. Approximately 400 German industrial companies were surveyed on behalf of Staufen Consultancy.

Effectively immediately, Staufen has added members to its management board. In addition to CEO Martin Haas and COO Wilhelm Goschy, the board of the corporate consulting company will now include Michael Hahn and Markus Riegger as well. Hahn’s new position entails responsibility for consulting operations and HR development. Riegger will assume management of the international consulting business, in-house qualifications and the Staufen Academy.