Time-jump to 2023. The corporate that Carl Zeiss created has reworked into an internationally acknowledged chief in optical merchandise and options for the segments Semiconductor Manufacturing Know-how, Industrial High quality and Analysis, Medical Know-how, and Shopper Markets. The corporate’s product line consists of among the world’s premier photographic lenses. 

And there was one other innovation ready for the ZEISS Group: an clever manufacturing resolution with digital documentation functionality from SAP.

Image years and years of paper

Till not too long ago, ZEISS’s extremely regulated manufacturing atmosphere relied closely on two documentation sorts: Digital Historical past Information (DHR) to validate information for compliance and Work Instruction documentation to stipulate the required steps in performing particular actions. Each had been managed via a paper-based course of. 

Think about manufacturing steps, take a look at outcomes, and meeting part data documented with tons and plenty of paper. Reams of it, actually. Greater than 30+ years of paper-based DHR data had piled up. 

Dealing with the paperwork was time-consuming. There was no built-in, single supply of information for manufacturing and order achievement standing, and real-time information was troublesome to entry, slowing down the workflow and affecting visibility into the operations. What’s extra, the 30+ years of paper opened the door to potential authorized challenges for data administration.

Transferring the main focus to a contemporary resolution

SAP Companies and Assist deployed its Digital Manufacturing (DM) at ZEISS working with Deloitte, Soffico GmbH, and Syntax Techniques GmbH & Co. KG.

DM is a manufacturing execution system (MES) that enables customers to deal with processes, analyze eventualities, and combine programs, taking a resource-efficient Business 4.0 strategy.

It has reworked ZEISS´s store ground operations. It has eradicated paper-based, siloed processes and paper consumption all through the manufacturing cycle, saving time and legwork. 

DM automates information assortment from machines and operators, providing vital insights into the standing of belongings. It gives a single, clear information supply, bettering visibility at each stage of producing. It produces and distributes documentation digitally, eliminating authorized dangers related to archiving paper-based data. And it maintains machine specs and directions based mostly on change historical past and approval workflow for enhancing operational effectivity. 

Enhancing Meditec’s view and effectivity

ZEISS first put DM to work as a proof-of-concept (POC) in its subsidiaries. Following that success, the corporate started deploying DM throughout its manufacturing traces, with the primary rollout serving to ZEISS cut back by roughly 100% paper-based DHR printing in addition to the time required to confirm variations of printed work directions. 

“The implementation of SAP Digital Manufacturing Cloud has revolutionized the best way we do enterprise,” says Andreas Busse, Linked Good Manufacturing facility, Carl Zeiss AG. “It has allowed us to navigate the challenges of the ever-changing VUCA [volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity] market and place ourselves as a pacesetter in innovation. I’m proud to be part of this game-changing initiative and honored to be thought-about for an innovation award.”

And the winner is…

However ZEISS is now not being thought-about for a 2023 SAP Innovation Award, now celebrating its 10^thanniversary. Primarily based on Carl Zeiss’s imaginative and prescient of producing excellence that was established all these years in the past and continued to this present day, the corporate is now an SAP Innovation Award winner within the Enterprise Innovator class.

Try the corporate’s Innovation Awards pitch deck and get a snapshot of the success story.