Christian Kastl
Manager Industry 4.0
It’s exciting to live in the digital age. We will see a lot of new developments which will drive new business models. I’m interested in the fields of Industry 4.0, Smart Factory und Smart Logistics and in my blogs, I try to bring some light in the big space of new solutions and trends in this fields.
Posts by Christian Kastl:
In times of Corona, how can Track & Trace help to solve the challenges ahead?
Matching themes: Asset Tracking, Material Visibility, Risk Management, Track & Trace, Transparenz
The Corona pandemic took us all completely by surprise. Few people expected a “black-swan” event like this. And even the boldest risk scenarios have not foreseen or dealt with the scale of the problem we are currently experiencing.
Supply chains have been severely disrupted or even completely collapsed within a short period of time, especially in the automotive and aviation industries. If important suppliers stop producing, warehouses are not working and transports out of “red zones” are not possible, then production cannot be maintained, or only with great difficulty.
But not everything has come to a standstill. Where production is still going on, it is now particularly important to know what is happening during transport, how long are the waiting times at the borders, where are the restrictions and what time effects will this have on the delivery.
There is no future without integrated production and logistics networks
Matching themes: Digital Supply Chain, logistics planning, Material Visibility, production planning, Production-to-Supply, Smart Factory
Much has already been written about flexible production and logistics networks, especially in economically turbulent times. However, the reality in many companies is still that production program planning and logistics planning run side by side in a non-integrated manner. Supplier integration, too, is usually only partially implemented. Read more
Exploiting the potential of Smart Logistics with Production-to-Supply
Matching themes: Analytics, Inbound Supply Chain, smart logistics data, Smart Supply Chain
It’ s nothing new that considerations of optimization focus on excessive inventories and overly high planning or disposition costs. This is all the more true in tougher economic times.
This is where the new opportunities of digitization come in: the continuous provision of data from supplier production to transport logistics and even in-house intralogistics is no longer a vision of the future. Even minimizing process costs is now a reality thanks to automation. Read more
Industrial Traceability: In-depth analysis transcending the boundaries of your production and supply chain
Matching themes: Digital Supply Chain, SCPM, Smart Supply Chain, Traceability, Track & Trace
Up until now, seamless, end-to-end good traceability has been more of a pipe dream than a reality. But there’s good news: thanks to the clustering of innovative Industry 4.0 technologies, comprehensive supply chain Track & Trace is now possible – also known as industrial traceability.
Read more
InSight, InControl: Real-time position and quality monitoring for production material transports
Matching themes: Asset Tracking, Condition Monitoring, Digital Supply Chain, Inbound Supply Chain, IoT, Material Visibility, SCPM, Security of supply, Sensors, Smart Supply Chain, Track & Trace
A materials controller needs up-to-date information at all times for production planning purposes. He needs to know whether the goods required are going to arrive at the plant in time – and whether they will do so in an intact state, a very important point when it comes to sensitive components. And all this preferably in real time, of course. But this is a lot more than what most track-and-trace solutions have to offer. Read more
Good for land and sea – How to ensure real-time visibility for production materials
Matching themes: Asset Tracking, Inbound Supply Chain, Industry 4.0, IoT, Material Visibility, SCPM, Security of supply, Smart Supply Chain, Traceability, Track & Trace
There are plenty of Track & Trace solutions (T&T) available. Logistics Service Providers (LSP) have been offering it as an add-on for years and several start-ups focus on this aspect, too. So it’s nothing new, right? Or is it? Read more
Increasing supply reliability and quality with Sensor Clouds
Matching themes: AirSupply, Asset Tracking, Condition Monitoring, Industry 4.0, IoT, SCPM, Sensors, Smart Supply Chain
A leading aerospace supplier has further optimized its inbound supply chain with SupplyOn. As part of an innovative industry 4.0 project, sensor tracking was used to implement the real-time monitoring of deliveries. This not only aims at continuously determining location, but also the early detection of quality defects during transport due to excessive temperatures or moisture. Read more
Maximize your supply chain transparency with track and trace
Matching themes: Asset Tracking, Inbound Supply Chain, IoT, Material Visibility, Outbound Supply Chain, SCPM, Security of supply, Smart Supply Chain, Traceability, Track & Trace
Track and trace, that is, determining the location of shipments, is definitely nothing new. Yet everyone still seems to be talking about it. How come?
Easy: We know that networked production as well as “smart factories” require reliable information on the delivery status of components. But this also translates to delivery logistics, where it’s important to know, for instance, where a spare part is located and whether it will reach its final destination on time or whether the parts will arrive at the assembly plant (CKD) as scheduled.
Sure, logistics service providers are already able to provide plenty of data regarding the location of a shipment – granted, not always in real-time, but still. Yet, how do we connect our systems with those of the logistics service providers? What do we do with the data? How can parts and status notifications be linked to each other without requiring an inordinate amount of effort and time from service providers and suppliers? How can we avoid having to enter data for different customers into individual custom portals? And how can all this data be analyzed effectively? Questions abound. Read more
Digitalization is not an end in itself. A commentary
Matching themes: Digital Supply Chain, digital transformation, digitalization, Smart Supply Chain, supplier collaboration
Wherever you look, “digital” is THE overriding theme. Digitalization is not particularly new and by no means simply a future scenario for the years 2020 to 2030.
No, the digitalization of tasks and processes has been around for quite some time now. And there is still some homework left to be done. Because, unfortunately, the business world is not yet as digital as it could – or should – be. Read more
Operational analytics: What does this new trend offer?
Matching themes: Analytics, Digital Supply Chain, SCPM
Up to now, analytics has been used primarily in customer and sales analysis. But its range is expanding: Companies are now increasingly applying analytics to operative processes as well.
Why? Read more