Financial success through Industry 4.0: Digital Capability Center opens in Aachen
McKinsey partners with RWTH Aachen and PTC: digital transformation learning factory provides hands-on experience of cutting-edge technologies’ value and use
Since March 31, 2017, there is the Digital Capability Center (DCC), a new learning facility focusing on industry 4.0. The DCC is a joint venture between top management consultancy McKinsey & Company, the Institute of Textile Technology (ITA) at RWTH Aachen University, and leading technology companies including software provider PTC. The DCC Aachen is the first of its kind in the world – McKinsey will be launching other DCCs this year in Singapore, Chicago, Beijing, and Venice. Manufacturing specialists and managers as well as future engineers can explore this realistic factory environment which offers them the tools they need to drive their own company’s digital transformation. They can take a systematic and targeted approach to discovering Industry 4.0 through hands-on workshops. The DCC is designed to help workshop attendees explore and learn how to use the latest digital technologies and increase productivity by applying them.
DCC Aachen revolves around the production of a smart wristband that can be individually customized by the workshop participants (key phrase: lot size of 1). The production line itself maps a typical brownfield scenario comprising a mix of older and modern machines, each with different controls and interfaces. The insights gained can be very easily translated to almost any practical application in a wide range of industries.
Control of an industrial robot by data glove. Image source: McKinsey