Hannover Messe has long been an eagerly anticipated annual occurrence on the global manufacturing calendar, and the 2016 event is no exception.
Attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, Hannover Messe features dedicated areas focusing on research and development, industrial automation, IT, industrial supply, production technologies and services to energy and mobility technologies.

Presidents, Chancellors and CEOs
2016’s event seems to have a certain star quality to it. US President Barack Obama will speak at the opening ceremony on 24 April, and is set to tour the fair with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on 25 April. And be sure to watch the keynote from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on 24 April. You can watch live or on-demand here. Microsoft’s technology and manufacturing stars will also be there in force, showcasing the customers and partners that are leading the digital transformation of manufacturing.

Microsoft’s platform, solutions and partner ecosystem on display
You will see how IoT is enabling things like industrial automation controls, smart and self-controlled production environments, infrastructure data visualization and analysis systems, intelligent dashboards, and horizontal and industry-specific IoT solutions from our Hannover Messe Gold Partners including Accenture, Avanade, Beckoff, Cluster Reply, Fujitsu and OSISoft. We are also proud to welcome alnamic, Audius, becos, CANCOM, CGI, COPA-DATA, FogHorn Systems, Iconics, ITVT, NEC, and Zühlke to our booth, Digital Factory, Hall 7, booth #C40. Our partners are available for consultation, technical discussions and exclusive 1:1 executive briefings during the show.

Microsoft bringing Sexy Back to manufacturing
Hannover Messe is about evolution, and the occasional revolution – it is after all the showcase event for Industry 4.0, or the 4th Industrial Revolution. There will no doubt be smarter robots, and further evolution of industrial automation at Hannover Messe 2016.

What the manufacturing (r)evolution is really about
However, I expect the real revolution at Hannover Messe 2016 to be about customer-obsessed manufacturers who are connecting the dots between ¬well-informed and fickle digital consumers, and digital design and manufacturing capabilities. Today’s manufacturers are taking an ‘outside-in’ approach to digital business and using new systems of intelligence – powered by the internet of things (IoT), advanced analytics and the cloud – to connect marketing, sales, and service ¬operations, with intelligent manufacturing and supply chain operations.

Era of systems of Intelligence
Just over a year ago, during his keynote at Convergence Satya Nadella described a new era of systems of intelligence and the digital transformation of manufacturing. Since then, a growing number of companies in the manufacturing industry have been re imagining their businesses, using data from the products they have made and shipped to their customers. Combined with customer relationship management (CRM) data such as customer complaints, new feature requests, service calls, and sentiments expressed by employees, partners and customers, these manufacturers are getting real insights into product usage and customer opinion. Not only does this provide a holistic view of the customer experience, but also enables manufacturers to innovate with new products and services that their customers will value.

Join us at at Hannover Messe 2016
Hannover Messe 2016 provides an opportunity to discuss manufacturing challenges and their corresponding solutions with Microsoft leaders, and its customers and partners. It offers the opportunity to dig deep into IoT and machine learning technologies with Azure IoT Suite and Cortana Analytics Suite, or see the potential of augmented reality with Microsoft HoloLens. It’s also an opportunity to see end-to-end business solutions bringing these technologies together in a new generation of systems of intelligence, by Dynamics AX and CRM, and our partners.

Microsoft at the Hannover Messe,25. to 29. April 2016 | Hall 7, Booth C40

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Microsoft’s ‘Intelligent Ecosystem’ had another opportunity to engage with leaders on the front lines of the manufacturing renaissance. Last week it was at the Smart Manufacturing Summit, in Indianapolis USA, sponsored by the Chief Executive Network. This two-day annual conference was attended by the business executive leaders from 100 mid-sized manufacturers, while being hosted by some of Indianapolis largest manufacturers – Cummins and Eli Lily – representing a spectrum of discrete and process manufacturing verticals. 

Industry 4.0 or Smart Manufacturing? Its Still a Revolution. 

A different continent. Smaller businesses. Smart Manufacturing rather than Germany’s Industry 4.0. However the underlying themes were the same. How do manufacturers counter the commoditization trend by reimagining the customer journey, challenging existing business models, and redesigning operational processes? Manufacturers, are reputed to be a conservative crowd, and conventional wisdom suggest you don’t use radical words like ‘transformation’ or ‘revolution’, but manufacturers openly discussed the ‘4th Industrial Revolution’, and the opportunities presented for a ‘digital transformation‘ at the Smart Manufacturing Summit in Indianapolis.

Microsoft’s Intelligent Ecosystem is Leading the Revolution 

Partners such as Rockwell Automation, eLogic, and Vertical Solutions are all ready for the new era of Systems of Intelligence, and led, listened and learned, at the various solution exchanges, roundtables, and panel discussions. Mike Shields of eLogic has provided his seasoned insights on the executive discussion on the Industrial Internet of Things, and the status (and misconceptions) about CRM and Intelligent Customer Engagement in his blog “The Voice of the Customer on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and CRM“. Meanwhile Kris Brannock from Vertical Solutions has summarized the insights she gleaned from contributors such as  Cummins, Pratt and Whitney, Stanley Black & Decker, and Rick Smith of the Additive Manufacturing Council on the disruptive potential of 3D composite materials, and 3D printing (of IoT parts for Field Service) in her blog: “3D Printing Creates New Possibilities for Industrial Internet of Things“. Rockwell Automation generously joined Microsoft for its IoT Roundtable, and shared their own experiences innovating with Microsoft Azure IoT Suite, and the new business models they were seeing emerge in the ecosystem powered by their industrial automation products and services.

CEO’s Responsibility to Enable Innovation 

One of the lighter, and yet enlightening moments of the Summit was when a collective sigh of relief was let out when Christian Pedersen, GM of Microsoft Business Solutions –  answering a loaded question from a panel moderator – told CEOs they don’t need to become technical gurus. Christian then went on to stress their responsibility does include understanding how technology can enable new business models, trying not to stifle innovation, and pushing for out-of-the-box thinking.

Big Data Doesn’t Have to Mean Big Money 

I really do think manufacturing is getting its ‘Sexy Back’. However, if there’s one disappointment from the last few weeks of world travels, its that smaller manufacturers don’t seem to have grasped how the convergence of social, mobile, analytical, IoT and cloud (SMAIC) technologies has leveled the playing field like never before. Economies of scale don’t mean what they used to. Its a theme I’ve been exploring with The Manufacturer.

Its amazing what a ‘smart’ manufacturer can do in the era of Systems of Intelligence.

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Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute just published a new forecast that the US skills gap in manufacturing will grow to 2 million workers by 2025. It was a sobering backdrop to the opening day of Convergence 2015 where we discussed the key imperatives for manufacturing, with fresh optimism that by challenging current business models, and reimagining productivity in a new era of ‘systems of intelligence’, Manufacturers can use smart connected products and predictive systems to digitally transform their end-to-end operations, creating entirely new, and more profitable customer experiences

Distilled from research and ongoing conversations with CXOs, in an infographic and less than 750 words in a blog, here is our basis for reimagining manufacturing!

Digital convergence is creating opportunities to intelligently engage customers. What is old to manufacturers has become new to consumers. Digital technologies such as Industry 4.0 (also referred to as “Smart Manufacturing”or the “Industrial Internet of Things”), Additive Manufacturing (known in popular press as “3D Printing”) and smart consumer products (the “Internet of Things”), are garnering vast amounts of buyer attention.  This consumer awakening creates opportunities for manufacturers to take a leap forward in margins and differentiation through rapid prototyping, agile manufacturing, and servitization of product-centric business models. Manufacturers can market smarter with new insights gained listening to smart connected products and social sentiment, blended with data from customer touch points across the marketing, sales and service channels they want to use – whether digital or not. Engineering and marketing can reduce risk and rapidly validate new product ideas with 3D models and 3D printed prototypes, confident in their digital supply chain’s ability to fulfill demand using intelligent automation and digital manufacturing.

Customer experiences are becoming the primary differentiator. By focusing on delivering great customer experiences that they will want to share, manufacturers can create sustainable relationships.  They are able to sell highly ‘customerized’ products, using market and consumer insights, and validated with 3D models and 3D printed prototypes, through the ‘design win’ or ‘configure, price, quote’ process.  After effectively selling ‘customerized’ products, great proactive service experiences engender loyalty in customers who then re-engage with the manufacturer when it is time to consider their next purchase.

Intelligent Operations are needed to deliver on customer promises.   Delivering consistently on brand, sales and services promises entails alignment of both digital customer experiences and digital operations excellence. Everyone in your organization, from sales people and service representatives, to engineers,  production/warehouse workers and delivery drivers, need to put the customer first in every decision.  Building teams around the customer journey means breaking down the walls of the traditional workplace; helping employees to do their best work with connected technologies; and empowering the front line with direct access to information and tools. Dynamic business systems must connect front-office and back-office processes, be easy to to deploy, intuitive to use, and intelligently predict customer behavior and needs, to help manufacturers talent and experience starved workforce deliver personalized and proactive experiences.

Here are just 3 of the technologies Microsoft announced at Convergence 2015 for the new era of systems of intelligence, and the digital transformation of manufacturing:

• Intelligent Customer Engagement: The Spring ’15 release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM that takes intelligent customer engagement to the next level by delivering enhancements and innovations in five key areas:  Productivity, Social, Mobility, Analytics, and Knowledge.
• Azure IoT Suite: With the Azure IoT Suite, we’re bringing together a variety of Azure services to help our customers, including industrial automation leader Rockwell Automation, accelerate their transformation to digital businesses using smart connected products.
• Office Delve as a prime example of how Microsoft is reimagining productivity to help people work in new and more connected ways. Delve is an experience within Office 365 that surfaces relevant content and insights tailored to each person. It is powered by the Office Graph, an intelligent fabric that applies machine learning to map the connections between people, content and interactions that occur across Office 365.

Its been a great start to Convergence 2015. The manufacturing team at Microsoft will be sharing more of our vision for intelligent customer engagement and intelligent operations in coming weeks as we prepare for Hannover Messe 2015.

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