The term Industry 4.0 is usually understood to mean only the digitization and networking of production. But only an e-commerce platform that integrates purchasing and sales into the production process brings the business potential of Industrie 4.0 to full fruition.
For a long time, the transformation to Industrie 4.0 was limited to the digitization and networking of production, to the automation and optimization of production processes. The areas of purchasing and sales remained largely excluded from the digitization and networking efforts.
In automated Industry 4.0, after all, the quality and quantity of the data provided to the respective digital control system ultimately determine the success or failure of a production operation. And it is precisely through buying and selling that rich material can be obtained for this purpose, if it is properly prepared. But this also requires a suitable technical solution.
Digital channels that have been used for some time, such as electronic data interchange (EDI) and purchasing and supplier portals, were difficult to transfer to Industrie 4.0 production. They were difficult or impossible to handle flexible products and small batch sizes - a key Industrie 4.0 issue. Only the use of e-commerce platforms offered a viable solution.
Click here to read the article on dev-insider.de, a publication of Vogel Communications Group.
A contribution by Pavlos Tsulfaidis, on dev-insider.de. Pavlos Tsulfaidis is CEO and founder of SmartStore AG. Since 1999, he has managed complex eCommerce and digitization projects throughout their entire lifecycle.