In a joint “Tangible Ecosystem Design” project, the German company Würth and Fraunhofer IESE developed concrete innovation scenarios for novel digital ecosystem services for businesses in the skilled trades sector.
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What it is all about:
Summary of the project
The challenge:
With what challenge did the company approach IESE?
The support:
How did IESE support the company in concrete terms?
The result:
What are the most important results of the project, and what are the next steps for the company?
Your benefits:
Fraunhofer IESE is your partner for Digital Ecosystems
In order to empower businesses in the skilled trades sector through digitalization, Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG already offers a wide range of support services. These cover, for example, the procurement processes for materials and tools or company management in an ERP system.
At the same time, various challenges in the skilled trades sector currently remain unresolved, from the planning and preparation of skilled trades services to their execution and invoicing. Solutions in this environment require new, innovative approaches, which is why Würth is cooperating with the “Digital Innovation Design” department at Fraunhofer IESE.
In an intensive joint workshop, the problem space in the skilled trades sector was first broadly defined in order to select the most pressing challenges that also have the potential to be solved or at least mitigated by digital means. On this basis, experienced moderators from Fraunhofer IESE used the “Tangible Ecosystem Design” method to develop concrete future scenarios for a new digital ecosystem together with around 15 representatives from various sections of the Würth Group. In interactive sessions, three tangible approaches were developed in this way, which use the potential of digitalization to provide skilled tradespeople with lightweight access to orders, available workforce, or knowledge.
Innovation often fails because ideas are not pursued further. Experts from Fraunhofer IESE therefore documented and evaluated the results of the “Tangible Ecosystem Design” workshop and, together with Würth, developed an action plan for the next implementation steps.
Digital Ecosystems and platform economy concepts are making an appearance in almost every industry – including the skilled trades sector. As a result, major players such as Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG are also looking at opportunities to strengthen their own market position and offer even better services to customers – in this case, skilled trades businesses. In order to do this successfully, the importance of Digital Ecosystems must be understood precisely, both in terms of what exactly characterizes them and in terms of the activities necessary to design and establish them. This forms the basis for tackling the actual challenge: How can Würth enable businesses in the skilled trades sector to meet the demand for skilled trades services more efficiently?
Fraunhofer IESE supported Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG in developing ideas for new brokerage services in a Digital Ecosystem. For this purpose, a customized concept for a two-day workshop was designed that took into account Würth’s prior knowledge and its objectives. Due to the size of the company and the large number of participants from various sections, emphasis was placed on creating a common understanding of terms and concepts. Therefore, a short training course on Digital Ecosystems was put together with practical examples and theoretical foundations to impart this knowledge.
At the core of the workshop was the application of creativity techniques and the “Tangible Ecosystem Design” method. Here, Fraunhofer IESE not only acted as moderator of the sessions, but also as an active source of ideas and co-creator. Three concrete innovation scenarios for Digital Ecosystem services in the Würth ecosystem were elaborated together and were analyzed with regard to initial business models and added value for all stakeholders involved.
Fraunhofer IESE summarized the results of the workshop in a comprehensive report, which, along with the photo protocol produced, serves as a reference for taking further steps. These were prepared by Fraunhofer IESE in the form of a catalog of measures for Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG in such a way that concrete follow-up activities can be initiated to further refine, validate, and implement the Digital Ecosystem.
This is what Jens Neumann, Managing Director Sales Management, Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, says:
Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG received three concrete results:
Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE
