Little Participation in Manufacturing-X So Far

According to a Bitkom survey, only a few companies are actively involved in the Manufacturing-X data room. However, almost one in three companies could imagine participating.

Without data exchange along the value chain, German industry will no longer be competitive. This is the view of 34% of companies in a recent Bitkom survey. The digital association surveyed 604 companies, 160 of which were from industry. The data dream of the Manufacturing-X initiative (25394228) is set to play a key role in industry-wide end-to-end networking.

Data ecosystems such as Manufacturing-X are intended to enable companies to use data confidently and jointly across the entire production and supply chain. The architecture of the data room reflects the business, legal and technical foundations for collaboration in the industry - in the form of frameworks, routines, standards and guidelines.

Higher Productivity and Impetus for Sustainability Expected

According to the survey, most German industrial companies (77%) are now aware of the initiative, although only a minority are actively involved: 1% of companies have so far participated in Manufacturing-X, while 4% of industrial companies are planning to do so. Nevertheless, Bitkom has observed a fundamental openness towards the topic. For example, 29% of companies could imagine participating. A large proportion of the industrial companies surveyed expect the more intensive exchange of data along the value chain to result in higher productivity (49%), more robust supply chains (41%) and impetus for more sustainable production (55%).

However, these positive assessments are offset by 58% of the industrial companies surveyed that have not yet engaged with Manufacturing-X and 2% that have actively decided not to participate.

This is a partly automated translation of this german article.