Bad Mergentheim/Main-Tauber-Kreis. At the sixth Expert forum C-Parts management, distinguished keynote speakers from industry, trade, science and consulting ensured a top-class exchange. On Tuesday, 13th June and Wednesday, 14th June 2023, 350 participants from 7 countries gathered together in the Würth Industrial Park in Bad Mergentheim at Würth Industrie Service GmbH & Co. KG to discuss trends, innovations and global challenges in the industry.
“Since our first expert forum in 2017, we have welcomed over 2,400 guests from across Germany and all over the world to our company location in Bad Mergentheim. The focus is on exchanging valuable ideas on solutions for a secure, resilient supply of production and operating materials as well as on significant impulses on market trends and global challenges. This not only results in intensive discussions, valuable business networks and long-term collaborations, but also in customer-oriented innovations. In this way, we ensure that our customers have their focus on the future.," says Martin Jauss, CEO of Würth Industrie Service GmbH & Co. KG.
In the face of Industry 4.0, the companies have to deal with changing markets. It is no longer just automation and digitalisation that concern the industry. There are also global issues across all countries and continents: the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, a volatile situation in the procurement markets, climate change and raw material shortages, geopolitical disputes, increasing inflation and a worsening shortage of qualified employees. Leading experts from industry, trade, science and consulting talked about the steps that need to be taken to be able cope with these developments at this year's expert forum. While Univ. Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Horst Wildemann, TCW Management GmbH & Co. KG, spoke about the importance of resilient corporate management with a special focus on its effects in the supply chain, David Reger, CEO & Founder at Neura Robotics GmbH, took up another important topic in his lecture on "Cognitive robots – a new era of human-machine collaboration”, where he focused on the future of a new, changed world of work. A world of work in which man and machine work successfully hand in hand. Prof. Dipl. Inf. Univ., MBA, Dominik B.O. Bösl, CEO at Innomancer GmbH, explained how to manage disruptive trends and what GPT, robotics, AI and work from home have and do not have in common. In this context, he explained the latest developments in the world of work and how they complement each other. In addition, Franz Kühmayer, Expert for Leadership and New Work at Zukunftsinstitut GmbH as well as CEO at Reflections Research & Consulting, contributed to numerous thought-provoking impulses for further discussions regarding possible potentials of medium-sized companies with his expert lecture “Opportunity of the century for medium-sized companies: Hidden champions or true heroes of the future?”. As visionary trend researchers, top managers and consultants, all speakers pursued the goal of presenting concrete ideas, concepts, measures and successful practical examples from industry, trade and science – true to the motto “Designing the future together”.
Learning from the experts: a holistic approach to C-Parts management.
With intelligent system solutions, Würth Industrie Service implements optimal supply concepts for production materials as well as for auxiliary and operating materials such as occupational safety, tools or chemical items. Not only does this reduce the procurement effort, optimise processes and reduce costs, but also achieves maximum time savings with maximum delivery reliability and the lowest possible capital commitment. The participants were able to experience how this can be achieved live on site at an accompanying technical exhibition. One of the absolute highlights: The Smart Workplace. With Smart Workplace, walking unnecessarily, searching for parts and manually tracking the requirements are now things of the past! In the assembly workplace of the future, man and machine work hand in hand. Thanks to numerous options for individual workplace design in combination with connected, intelligent supply solutions, driverless transport systems and worker assistance systems, the C-Parts supply of the future is a success. CPS®miSELF, intelligent solution for digital supply management, proves how A-, B- and C-Parts can also be managed with just one system. It enables industrial customers to combine different suppliers in a single solution and tried and tested hardware while at the same time using the service of Würth Industrie Service for items outside the Würth product range. Just pure innovation! Also during a tour of the logistics at one of the most modern logistics centres for industrial supply in Europe, the participants were able to get a personalised insight into the implementation of automation and digitalisation on an area of more than 65,000 square metres. At this year's Expert forum C-Parts management too, promising innovations were brought to the fore and the participants were able to make valuable contacts and establish networks. Now, true to the motto “Designing the future together”, it is a matter of actively taking charge of it. Because innovators do not wait for change, they drive it.
Author: Pia Schmitt
Press and Public Relation
The 9th Fastener Fair Global, International Exhibition for the Fastener and Fixing Industry, ended last week after three successful show days at the Messe Stuttgart exhibition centre in Germany. Almost 11,000 trade visitors from 83 countries attended the event to discover the latest innovations, products, and services from all areas of fastener and fixing technology and to connect with other industry professionals from various manufacturing and industrial sectors.
