INDUSTRYAPPS

THE ‘FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND’ APP STORE FOR INDUSTRY 4.0 SOLUTIONS

Digitalization and automation are game changers for conquering today’s and tomorrow’s hurdles. We can now accomplish more with fewer resources, even those that are limited. While its effectiveness resonates across all industries, manufacturers are now able to significantly boost their productivity, accuracy, and efficiency by utilizing connected devices, data analytics, and smart technology.

It is redefining the operations, procedures, and energy footprint of industries and supply chains as well as the design, production, use, and maintenance of products. As operations go from manual to automated, performance monitoring and decision-making are improved, while rework, downtime, faults, and bottlenecks are averted. Long story short, the utilization of Industry 4.0 solutions is enabling industrial organizations to rethink growth strategies. It’s allowing them to expand their digital horizons with a focus on value propositions for their company and clients.

But accessibility to tailored automation tools is still a challenge yet to be fully addressed. Even though the world has changed and everything is more connected than ever, people still have to scour the market to choose the right automation partner. We are living in a world where everything is available at the touch of a button. Having a digital store that offers automation tools to industrial organizations that serve their needs could solve this. Enter IndustryApps, the world’s first open marketplace for Industry 4.0 solutions.

The platform offers an array of globally certified apps—curated and tested by industrial experts. With its plugand-play offerings, industrial companies can digitalize their operations in a cost-effective, standardized, secure, and risk-free way. For a better understanding of how it’s carving a niche, we connected with the Co Founder & COO of IndustryApps, Sandeep Sreekumar. The following article spotlights his thoughts on why IndustryApps is a groundbreaking innovation—not only offering a gamut of bespoke apps but also driving a necessary industrial transformation.

THE GOLDEN TICKET TO INDUSTRY 4.0
IndustryApps was founded by a team of supply chain and manufacturing specialists to transform the manufacturing paradigm in the product value chain. While digitalization has changed many aspects of our lives, its use in industrial functions is typically constrained by high costs, is monolithic, and has a limited degree of customer mobility. Most goods led to lock-in situations with substantial overhead expenditures for updates, maintenance, and support.

IndustryApps seeks to upend this entire paradigm. Building a smart manufacturing ecosystem enables businesses to plug-and-play modular capabilities in their facilities. Companies can subscribe to and unsubscribe from solutions without losing control over their data, thanks to the centralization and structuring of the accumulated data made possible by the use of open standards. This further helps in addressing challenges regarding licensing, upgrades, and support.

Due to the platform’s much lower expenses for sales & marketing and local language support, vendors can easily lift their threshold from being a regional supplier to a global supplier with less risk. This puts an end to the hassles associated with high-availability hosting, like data protection laws in uncharted areas. Furthermore, a vendor’s solution gains value the moment it is added to the platform because it has an impressive number of connectors to already-existing customer systems (ERPs, PLCs, etc.).

This ultimately helps manufacturers in a big way. Through such connectors, they can link all of their current systems to the platform and gain access to a handpicked list of enterprise-grade solutions that can assist in overcoming their difficulties. Overall, IndustryApps is devoted to advancing manufacturing and supply chain operations. It offers companies a “one-stop-shop” to seamlessly access solutions and services from acclaimed global vendors.

GBHERMES

GUNJA TEXTILES MANUFACTURING COMPANY

Life After Hate

TECHMANGO

Punyam Academy

360 Nautica

Indian Institute of Commerce Lakshya

Travancore Ayurveda

A CUSTOMER-FIRST BUSINESS MODEL
Customer satisfaction is at the core of what IndustryApps does. Moreover, it mandates that each and every stakeholder adopt the same mindset. The company bases all its operations on a “Responsible Organization (ResOrg)” culture. Every action is directed toward fostering trust, value, and improving client experience with the platform, regardless of whether it involves providing a product or modifying internal practices. This also includes protecting client data and always being sincere in communication and interaction, regardless of the outcome.

The company is on a constant lookout for partners in technology and consulting. It has strong partnerships with influential members of the industrial startup ecosystem, namely Flutura, Kinta, Plutomen, Boombirds, and Ruby Logic, to mention a few. At the same time, it is working with global consultancies like the T&O Group, one of the leading lean consulting firms for the DACH (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) sector. In addition to these collaborations, IndustryApps is a partner in prominent industrial coalitions like the International Digital Twin Association, the Open Industry 4.0 Forums, ECLASS, and the German Accelerator for the SEA region.

Needless to say, every collaboration allows for incorporating an innovative offering into the platform. With every offering, IndustryApps raises the bar of customer satisfaction by a notch. All partners (suppliers) onboard are driven by a like-minded thought process, i.e., to make digitalization accessible to all, irrespective of their size and shape. IndustryApps takes part in various exhibitions in different geographies (Singapore, the Germany, India, etc.) to build partnerships with those sharing a similar mindset and vision for the industrial realm.

THE BRAINS BEHIND THIS BREAKTHROUGH
IndustryApps is a game-changing invention ready to lead a vital change in the global industrial sector. And as mentioned, it’s led by a cadre of determined specialists—Rolf Knoerzer (Founder & CEO), Sandeep Sreekumar (Co-Founder & COO), and Ganesh Barbhai (Managing Director). The trio has spent years at similar tech powerhouses and has a legacy of transforming smart factories worldwide. Rolf has nearly three decades of experience overseeing manufacturing operations and intercontinental supply chain activities (the Asia Pacific and Europe).

Sandeep, on the other hand, is an evangelist for digitalization who has over 15 years of experience in managing Industrial Digitalization programmes in 82 factories and warehouses across 23 nations. He is an Electronic engineer with a record of transforming factory operations all around the world with great success. He bases his leadership on constantly improving things.

He holds the opinion that there is always room for improvement, further optimization, and mitigating potential sources of error. His passion lies in the interplay of technology and society and the innovations that result from it. Finally, Ganesh is a results-oriented leader with a track record of achieving transformation by employing business solutions with experiencebacked judgement, a strong work ethic, resolute, integrity, and deadlines.

The confluence of their expertise was bound to produce something era-defining. Throughout their stints, they noticed that only a handful of manufacturing tasks were completely digital. But as customer expectations increased, there was a greater need for sustainability, better quality at lower prices, and higher energy and resource costs. The leaders recognized a lot of untapped potential.

“It was crucial to take a leap ahead instead of just a kaizen step,” says Sandeep. The scenarios sparked an idea that eventually resulted in IndustryApps. Their efforts have helped many businesses redefine their manufacturing processes, especially during COVID-19, which disrupted the global manufacturing paradigm. IndustryApps has helped many companies operate with minimal resources but generate high efficiency.

THE “RESPONSIBLE ORGANIZATION (RESORG)” CULTURE
AI, IoT, and AR/VR advancements alone won’t transform manufacturing; it also takes a lot of tenacity and effort from humans. IndustryApps is a fine example of this notion. Its team consists of people who have a devoted knack for digitalization and making a dent in the universe. Their excellence stands on a distinct Hi-CARE value structure (Honesty, Integrity, Collaboration, Accountability, Responsibility, and Excellence). These principles are fostered and rewarded across their business and non-business pillars.

Moreover, they follow ethical business standards, such as abiding with international sanctions, screening clients, and opposing unethical business practises like child labour. This engages them towards societal developments as well. Under the direct supervision of the “IndustryApps Global Compliance team,” the company offers managerial implications for fostering and advancing the following four CSR pillars:

Environmental Responsibility – IndustryApps encourages partner solutions that support customers’ efforts to reduce waste, their carbon footprint, and their environmental effect.
Ethical Responsibility – The Company supports unequal, unbiased, and nondiscriminatory opportunities. It makes every effort to ensure ethical business practises that extend to its clients and partners
Philanthropic Responsibility – It has a specific budget line set out to assist charitable groups and regional local events.
Economic Responsibility – Last but not least, IndustryApps promotes and supports solution partners who work responsibly and have plans to support their own socioeconomic duties. Due to their deep belief in the common good, they do this despite the possible financial costs to their business.

The company’s ethical endeavors help to create a prosperous atmosphere where partners, customers, and employees can cooperate with confidence. The convergence of principles and the chance to work on a vision that maintains organisational growth relevant to social development make their Res-Org culture appealing to career seekers.

SETTING A PARADIGM FOR INDUSTRIAL DIGITALIZATION
Digitalization has evolved from something that was “nice to have” to something existential for the survival of a company. IndustryApps began its journey to drive worldwide industrial digitalization in 2016, and so far, the results have been nothing but promising. The platform is successfully digitizing factories across North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region in countries like the USA, China, India, Germany and Australia.

Given its reputation in the market, IndustryApps is clearly destined for greatness. Sandeep claims their vision is to become the go-to platform for digitalizing factories, the top choice for clients, and a quick and accessible point for technology adoption. Simply put, they want to be at the forefront of setting the stage for Industry 4.0. It continually integrates well-regarded solutions from many regions, forging a strong presence in each industrial hub.

THE FOUNDER’S FORESIGHT
As we were winding up our discussion, we asked Rolf to offer his opinions on the future of industrial digitization. He stated that given the pace of global change, digitalization is imperative. Businesses failing to realize this will not survive the upcoming decade. The strategy shouldn’t, however, be restricted to going paperless. Equally significant are the “how” of digitalization and the digitalization of operations and manufacturing. Businesses should emphasize open standards more than lock-in agreements and proprietary technologies. It would not only ensure business flexibility but also allow them to keep control of their data.