Michael is a passionate entrepreneur and the CEO of SCIO Automation, an international automation platform that believes in its mission to support companies on their journey towards Industry 4.0. As a system integrator and innovator, SCIO automates production and logistics processes. A visionary, a creative genius, Michael speaks on an array of topics. Excerpts:

Conception of SCIO

The increasing demand of our customers in all industry sectors for comprehensive Smart Factory solutions, from end-to-end, was one of the main reasons to found SCIO, observes Michael. “Our customers have realized that it is not possible in the long term to implement only individual solutions. To remain competitive in the future, they need to integrate all their machines, products and processes into a single, higher-level digital system. They have needed a partner who can provide them with comprehensive end-to-end automation support for production and logistics processes.”

Digital transformation – Challenges Galore

Noting that Smart Factory is the key word to address all pain points, Michael says that this is a completely self-organized production environment based on real-time data and integrated automation processes, connecting all logistics and production processes through the integration of hardware and software. “Look at all your internal processes and integrate them in one overall system to ensure quality, flexibility, cost-efficiency and to protect products and secure supply chains. So, a key aspect is the switch from hardware-only to integration in digital process environments through software. E.g., using new automation opportunities as Autonomous Mobile Robot solutions which can seamlessly be integrated in your own software standards and processes.”

Key innovation

“As a global automation platform, our mission is to support our customers on their journey to Industry 4.0. SCIO is the only bigger Group which refers to the fact that logistics and production are coming together to one single unit in a smart factory and offers both: Automation in factory logistics and production from end-to-end.” In the automotive industry, the automation company acts as a manufacturer and system integrator for assembly and testing lines, Body Shell and Battery assembly, as well as storage and material handling systems.

Leadership traits

Michael says that continuous change is a constant. “Without being open for changing things, you and your organization cannot grow in the long-term. For changing things, you need the support and feedback from your employees. Their visions, innovative ideas, and solutions to bring the business on the next level as well as their challenging questions are the basis for my motivation to find reasonable solutions and opportunities to bring my company on the next level.” He recommends entrepreneurs to be bold.

Automotive startups – the future ahead

Michael asks to watch out for trends and be an early adopter and anticipator of them. “Ask yourself, how can my product support the smart and digital automotive factories in the future even better. E.g., Let’s take the customer trend for individualized products as an example. The trend leads from a volume mass production to a “one piece flow” system.”  By relying on that and developing integrated solutions which support the “one piece flow” process, you might be at the forefront of Industrial IoT.

The success mantras

“Think big and be open for change. As a mechanical engineer I was engaged in automizing processes since the beginning of the 90ths. I look back at 20 years of experience in the automotive sector and tremendous crisis and changes on the market up to today’s biggest structural transformation of the whole sector. To be ahead of competitors and at the forefront of the next big step, it is important to be open for change. That also includes encouraging employees to think big and to give them the opportunity to develop innovative solutions.”