Interim results of the first pilot project with Werkzeug-Eylert
Since March 2020, the Data Mining and Value Creation team at Fraunhofer IMW has been working together with Werkzeug-Eylert, a tool wholesaler from Chemnitz, on two exciting questions concerning data-based value creation.
The first project is to extend the in-house trade fair of Werkzeug-Eylert (“Eylmesse”) by a digital trade fair. In this way, the company wants to use the potential of digitization to increase customer reach and optimize customer experiences. The project team has already successfully completed this project.
A workshop for developing ideas was held right before the Covid-19 lockdown. Together with Sarah Neuschl, research fellow in the Data Mining and Value Creation project, and Dr. Sebastian Haugk, team leader Concept and Method Development, the employees of Werkzeug-Eylert selected design alternatives, rejected them again or adapted them until finally combining them into a promising overall concept.
Virtual trade fair as a replacement for the in-house trade fair
Originally, the idea was not only to design a virtual trade fair, but also to help shape digital technologies and media for the in-house trade fair. For this reason, the workshop participants also discussed implementation examples from companies in the areas of “extended product presentations” (e.g. 3D images and zoom-in to partial components), “virtual tour and 360° videos” and “immersive simulations” (e.g. flying room changes thanks to VR glasses).
In the context of Covid-19, the virtual trade fair could become an important or even only substitute for the in-house trade fair. Therefore, the project team focused on the further development of the virtual Eylmesse, thinking about essential fields of action such as rooms, formats and interaction paths. The remaining project work up to the finalization was also virtual: the participants sharpened the overall concept from the idea development in coordination meetings via video conference.
After researching providers and holding webinars, the project team also found a suitable technical implementation partner for the virtual trade fair. “This is exactly where our further work will continue”, says Tom Schubert, plant manager and authorized representative at Werkzeug-Eylert. “Together with our local partner companies, we want to offer the Eylmesse or other in-house dates such as seminars of the Eyl Academy to our customers in a digital format. We are using the results of the cooperation with the Fraunhofer IMW project team and are already looking forward to the implementation phase, in which we can hopefully meet again.”
Collaboration platform postponed due to Covid-19
The second project with Werkzeug-Eylert is looking at how a collaboration platform should be designed to compensate short-term production capacities in the company’s own customer network. Due to Covid-19, however, this work will continue as soon as the economic situation of potential users offers significantly more room for innovation topics. Together with Werkzeug-Eylert, the project team will conduct interviews with interested parties of the planned business network and, based on the results so far (market analysis and rough concept), will develop an implementation concept.
The cooperation with Werkzeug-Eylert takes place within the framework of the pilot projects in which the Data Mining and Value Creation team collaborates with companies in Saxony to explore the possibilities of data-based value creation.