How can development processes be digitally integrated? What degree of digitization of product development is efficient? What are the potentials and possible applications for the digital twin in development? More than ever, these are central questions in the product development of manufacturing companies. An up-to-date and holistic understanding of digital consistency in product development is therefore of major importance for the success of strategic decisions. Especially in the age of increasing digitization of products and processes, promising potentials but also challenges arise.
Therefore, we, the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) of RWTH Aachen University and the Complexity Management Academy, in cooperation with an industry consortium, would like to identify successful and proven best practices for the end-to-end continuity of product development. Use the benchmarking study "Digital Product Development" to examine your own approach to end-to-end continuity of product development, to gain further impulses and find out about successful approaches based on the study results.
We look forward to your participation! Please use the button on the top of the page.
The benchmarking study is designed for approximately 10 months and starts with a screening phase, which pursues the goal of a comprehensive industry data collection based on the questionnaire. With the help of our expert network from industry and science, the returns are analyzed during the evaluation and promising approaches are detailed in depth through case studies with the corresponding study participants. In this phase, all study participants receive an evaluation of the relative positioning of their own company compared to the most successful participants in the study. Finally, five Successful Practice companies are visited by the industry consortium and the respective other Successful Practice companies under the motto "learning from the best".
Shown below is the scope of the international benchmarking study. The areas serve to structure the topic and enable a target-oriented discussion within the project.
"In the KBM "Agile Product Development", we were able to discuss our own status quo across industries and gain numerous insights into best practices via the study. This approach was of major benefit to us."
(Head of Project and Process Management Vaillant Group)
The Complexity Management Academy is conducting the consortium benchmarking study "Digital Product Development" together with the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) at RWTH Aachen University, thus continuing a series of successfully completed consortium benchmarking studies of this kind. Our industry customers appreciate our professional project management in addition to our well-founded technical and methodological expertise.
Successful consortium benchmarking studies of the past years:
The consortium benchmarking study examined how AI is used in companies R&D work and where it is already finding its way into new products. Over 200 companies provided responses on four central AI topics in R&D. In addition to identifying new service offerings through the application of AI in the product portfolio, possible applications for optimizing internal R&D processes are queried. Furthermore, the companies provided information on organizational and technological prerequisites for the successful integration of AI in R&D.
Consortium partner
The consortium consisted of 24 companies from various industries and company sizes with companies such as Covestro, Miele, ZF, Endress + Hauser, and many more.
Successful practice companies
ABB, Airbus, Dürr Systems, Wacker Chemie, 3M Germany
The thematic focus of the consortium benchmarking study "Agile Product Development" was to identify success factors for the agile development of physical products. Within the framework of this benchmarking study, systematic, generally applicable and targeted solution approaches for the application of agile methods in the product development of manufacturing companies were derived along the six central topics of the framework "Organization", "Methods" and "Tools", "Infrastructure", "Prototyping", "Process" and "Culture and Mindset".
Consortium partners
16 consortium partners, such as Bosch, Mahle, Swarovski, Schaeffler or Roche, from different industries and different company sizes formed the consortium.
Successful practice companies
Claas, ASML, Philips Healthcare, Trumpf, Continental
Benjamin Lender, M.Sc.
Project Lead
Phone: +49 (0) 241 80-28205
Mobil: +49 (0) 151 405 66681
Gereon Bönsch, M.Sc.RWTH
Project Team Member
Phone: +49 (0) 241 80-27593
Mobil: +49 (0) 151 467 74073
Dr.-Ing. Maximilian Kuhn
Chief Engineer - Department Innovation Management
Phone: +49 (0) 241 80-28196
Mobil: +49 (0) 151 431 64208
Email: m.kuhn@wzl.rwth-aachen.de