170 representatives of the 95 cooperation partners give the starting signal.
Minister of Economics Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut symbolically handed over the Future Workshop 4.0 to the operating company on 15 November 2021. Almost 100 innovators from the industry will present their solutions for implementing the car dealership business of today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow permanently in the premises of the Future Workshop 4.0 as well as online as part of the Innovation Radar Motor Trade. The Innovation Showcase is primarily aimed at workshops, car dealerships and industry service providers. The car dealership structures on over 450 square metres include two fully functional workshop workplaces, a showroom area and seminar rooms. This concept allows the premises to be used in a variety of ways.
The Future Workshop 4.0 was launched as part of the Baden-Württemberg Automotive Industry Strategy Dialogue and is aimed specifically at companies in the automotive industry. The focus is on proactive future transfer. In this way, independent and manufacturer-bound players will be given practice-focused innovative solutions in a car dealership environment of the future. The aim of the Future Workshop 4.0 is to support companies in the automotive industry in the transformation process.
Minister Dr. Hoffmeister-Kraut: “The idea and the concept for the Future Workshop 4.0 came about as part of the Baden-Württemberg Automotive Industry Strategy Dialogue. We are pleased to be able to offer this service to the numerous automotive companies from now on. The Future Workshop 4.0 is a central and practice-oriented contact point for the topics of electromobility and digitalisation. Through the shareholders of the operating company as well as the comprehensive partner network, the Future Workshop 4.0 is positioned at the heart of the industry. We wish all those involved every success and invite the automotive industry to actively use this concept, which is unique in Germany.”
The Future Workshop is an innovation showcase, training centre and test laboratory for the technologies, processes and business models of tomorrow and beyond. “Digital information and communication media in customer interaction, new technologies in product presentation, decreasing turnover sizes in the workshop sector due to electromobility, but also new value creation potentials through the Connected Car are only a few examples of the high pressure for change. This illustrates the necessity of such a concept,” says Prof. Dr. Stefan Reindl, managing director of Zukunftswerkstatt (Future Workshop) 4.0. Prof. Dr. Benedikt Maier, also a member of the management board, added: “this transfer function can only succeed with difficulty in purely theoretical terms. The top priority at Zukunftswerkstatt is the full functionality of the integrated applications. Visitors are therefore invited to touch, compare and try out – from the vehicle scanner to the exoskeleton to the AR (augmented reality) glasses. So we’re extremely close to the real world, and we think that’s one of the crucial factors for the success of the concept.”
The operating company is supported by the University of Applied Sciences (HfWU), the Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH (DAT) and the Institut für Automobilwirtschaft (IfA). Jens Nietzschmann, spokesman of the DAT management and thus shareholder representative as well as strategic partner of Zukunftswerkstatt: “Zukunftswerkstatt 4.0 stands for successful networking in the automotive industry and thus corresponds 100% with DAT’s core Brand values.” Dr. Thilo Wagner, DAT Managing Director, adds: “As DAT, we will not only contribute our expertise in the areas of software and processes, but also take on the role of a multiplier and link within the industry as a neutral data authority of the automotive industry.”
In the Future Workshop 4.0, employees of the motor vehicle trade are to receive impulses for shaping their own activities. It therefore offers exciting insights and outlooks for trainees, motor vehicle mechatronics technicians, workshop managers, sales teams and even managing directors. As Centre Manager, Niclas Wild is responsible for partner management, among other things: “The approach as an open platform is particularly important here – we have made it our mission to network people and technologies”. The core of this is the extensive partner network. Currently, Zukunftswerkstatt 4.0 can look back on 95 contractually fixed company cooperations. These range from small start-ups to established suppliers or manufacturers to testing organisations. All these companies are committed to presenting the latest solutions in the Future Workshop 4.0. The Future Workshop 4.0 is therefore not a still image, but is alive and constantly being updated. “What may be innovative today may already be standard tomorrow,” says technical director Nils Unverricht.
On the part of mann Objecta, we are particularly pleased that we are seen as an important idea generator and innovator in interior design and furnishings, and that we have been selected as a system partner by Zukunftswerkstatt 4.0. The first meetings and the joint brain storming and development process in the implementation of the room-forming extension were particularly inspiring – here mann Objecta was able to contribute its entire experience. The complete design and development of the furnishing elements, furnishings and wall panelling / cabinets as well as presentation systems came from the pen of mann Objecta.
Finally, we would like to mention once again the cooperation and good collaboration with our partner DAUPHIN, who developed the seating concept in close cooperation with mann Objecta – this for the variable seminar seating analogous to the reception and workplace area as well as the meeting island in the sales area. In addition, a “highlight” from mann Objecta is installed here – a vehicle platform individually adapted to the Future Workshop 4.0, which is available to the partners AUDI and PORSCHE for the latest vehicle presentations.
Further information on Future Workshop 4.0 can be found at www.ifa-info.de/zukunftswerkstatt and at www.ifa-info.de/zw4-0-partner.
