• June 2022

Both in industry and among service providers, the topics of digitalization and Industry 4.0 have been on the agenda for a few years and are still highly relevant.   

The classic topics such as reducing downtime and costs are still very important. In the meantime, however, other topics are also coming into focus; these include increasing sales or new, expanded services. 

The study addressed the following key questions: 

  • What progress has been made in the past three years? 
  • What results have already been achieved? 
  • From today's perspective, where are the main challenges and the greatest opportunities? 
  • To what extent have expectations been met or exceeded? 

To answer these questions, 203 companies (mainly from the mechanical engineering, automotive, chemical/pharmaceutical, and electronics sectors) from Germany, Austrian, and Switzerland were surveyed using a quantitative online survey. Together with the results from our study in 2017, trends and developments were analyzed.

Less talk - more action

This is how the change since 2017 can be summarized:

  • For example, the proportion of companies that have already carried out projects has increased from one-third to half. The results achieved as part of these projects exceeded expectations, in some cases significantly. 
  • Reductions of 17 and 18 percent respectively were achieved in the areas of maintenance/service costs and plant downtime, and sales increased by 10 percent. 
  • At the same time, however, it became clear that still only a fraction (4 percent) of the companies had exploited their expected potential. 

Want to learn more about the topic? The study is available for you to download.

  • Predictive Maintenance Study 2021
    Predictive Maintenance Study 2021 827.79 KB Download

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