Generic Procedure Model to Introduce Industrie 4.0 in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Industrie 4.0 is increasingly entering the industrial landscape of German Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME). However, the right introduction to the subject for the affected companies proves to be difficult. For this reason, the "Generic Procedure Model to introduce Industrie 4.0 in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises" (GPMI4.0) is presented in this paper. The purpose of this model is to give SMEs a guidance on how to address Industrie 4.0 in order to identify enterprise-specific technology solutions, to optimize existing processes, to advance existing business models and to exploit new business models.