Kickoff for the Mobility of Tomorrow

The synonym for smart automobility has long been K.I.T.T. – the “Knight Rider” that David Hasselhoff drove. Today’s incarnation is C.A.S.E. – significantly driven forward by MD ELEKTRONIK in Waldkraiburg, Upper Bavaria. C.A.S.E is the driving force behind its work: Connected, Autonomous, Shared & Service and Electric. It succinctly describes the future market of data transmission in vehicles. More than 6,000 MD ELEKTRONIK employees in six plants on three continents are currently installing around 400,000 kilometers of cable, proudly claiming: “We enable the mobility of tomorrow.”

Of course, such an endeavor requires state-of-the-art technology. For any digital factory aspiring towards Industry 4.0, there is absolutely no getting away from the need to connect systems and machines or collect and analyze data in real time. With SAP Digital Manufacturing (SAP DM), SAP’s latest Manufacturing Execution System (MES) focuses on these precise facets of future manufacturing. It enables the execution, data analysis, control and integration of manufacturing processes creating the foundation of the digital factory of the future. Its particular highlight: It is completely cloud-based.

io’s experts established that MD ELEKTRONIK was the perfect candidate for the new software. They conducted an application study for MD ELEKTRONIK – as one of the first SAP partners ever – and launched the case study in 2021. MD ELEKTRONIK was put through its paces for a month, using SAP DM to monitor ongoing processes, all under the watchful project management of Veronika Schmid-Lutz. But how exactly does this work? “First of all, of course, you take a very good look at the client,” reveals Christian Kaufmann, who as a member of io’s management team was involved in the case study. “What are the company’s actual processes? What should the processes ideally look like? Where are the missing gaps? And how can these gaps be filled? The “Discover and Explore” procedure continuously reviews the market. Of course, we proceed within a given framework. Nevertheless, each customer must be considered individually and a big part of our work is tailor-made. This time it was particularly pioneering work anyway, as it was our first SAP DM project. And not only for us: In general, it was one of the first SAP DM projects ever carried out.”