PLCnext Factory Rethinking production We begin our production tour with a look beyond our own backyard – in fact, overseas. In the 1990s, it was clear to see that Japanese companies were achieving results much more efficiently by applying new ideas. The propagation of these ideas throughout the rest of the world caused a fundamental change in industry. Today, we discuss lean production as a matter of course. For some time now, industry has again been in a state of flux. Companies are successfully utilizing new methods to realize complex projects at incredible speeds. Companies that break new ground are often those in the IT world, such as Netflix, Amazon, and Alibaba, but also manufacturers of physical products, such as Tesla and SpaceX. What all of these have in common is that they use agile working methods and employ digital technologies. As was the case in the 1990s, we now need to look closely and ask ourselves what Netflix, SpaceX, and Co. are doing differently; how they are using digital technologies and benefiting from agile methods. We can learn lessons from this and apply them to our own working practices. For now, let us take a look at Bad Pyrmont: Innovation and technical progress are deeply rooted in Phoenix Contact’s corporate DNA. Back in 2017/18, we set an important milestone on the road to the digital transformation, with the management team developing a common dialog model that has been a guiding principle for us ever since. This model outlines the interfaces through which we are rethinking our processes within the framework of digitalization. 4 Phoenix Contact In the following, we outline why, in our view, the digitalization of production is essential and how we are turning this concept into reality here in Bad Pyrmont.