Good practice:

Shift to 4.0 – diagnostic tool for the implementation of industry 4.0 concepts (pilot Project)

The self-diagnostic tool SHIFTo4.0 was created to enable companies to self-evaluate where they stand in terms of I 4.0 concepts adoption, but also to transmit knowledge, based on those answers that allows the identification of modernization strategies in a defined time frame (medium term).
This tool has two parts. The first part is a questionnaire where companies describe and insert the necessary data to produce an evaluation, which in turn means that companies must be able to self-assess, or at least have been assessed by a 3rd party. In either case Consultants were present when needed to support this self diagnosis.
The second part corresponds to a report which defines a classification relative to its present state, based on the self-diagnosis the company did.
The report will also identify a set of guidelines applicable to that particular company, identifying the necessary steps to promote a develop the adoption of strategies that permit it to achieve the conditions that will make it more competitive and capable of responding of i4.0 economy challenges .
The tool is structured in 4 distinct sections:
I. General characterization of the company;
II. Dimensions under analysis
i. Strategy and organisation;
ii. Intelligent Factory;
iii. Intelligent Operations
iv. Intelligent Products
v. Data based services;
vi. Human resources;
III. Comparison Groups
IV. Report

The self diagnosis involved the following 3 main Stakeholders (ISQ, IAPMEI, University of AVEIRO), and the cooperation of the following: CTCV (Centro Tecnológico da Cerâmica e Vidro), MOBINOV - CEiiA (cluster automóvel), Politécnico de Leiria e Minho University.

64 companies participated in this effort. The main result of this assessment is that there is a lack of digital and i4.0 culture which is practically transversal to the production and services companies and even companies with some implemented solutions do not highlight a clear i4.0 integrated strategy.

The implemented methodology could give important insight in to what companies think about I 4.0, and what they are really implementing, which in turn can provide useful tools to “educate” enterprises on the benefits of I 4.0 Concepts, and the best way to implement them. The potential of transfer is very high since the questionnaire was built upon the i4.0 maturity model developed by IW Consult of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research and the RWTH FIR of the University of Aachen (https://www.industrie40-readiness.de/).