Mr. Schülein, you set out to tackle mechanical engineering. How has the business developed since then?
In a nutshell, we have achieved our plans both economically and technologically: we expect to generate 15% of the company's turnover in the mechanical engineering sector this year and have now realized projects with five mechanical engineering companies.

And what's next?
We have set ourselves ambitious growth targets of 20% per year for the coming years. What pains us a little is that we are constantly on the lookout for committed and competent software developers. Their availability will ultimately have a decisive influence on the dynamics of our future growth in this area.

Has the business strategy that you set out two years ago worked out? In which areas did you have to make adjustments?
Our idea of supporting companies in the integration of classic automation, IT technologies and IT in future-proof machine concepts was a complete success. We are now focusing our activities on special machine construction, and in particular on assembly and testing lines for the automotive supplier sector. These companies have a high and continuous demand for individual software!

However, we have also found that the customers of these special machine manufacturers - i.e. the manufacturing companies - are increasingly demanding consistent and fully integrated software solutions from the I/O level to the ERP connection. In other words, they want to receive a uniform and standardized software platform from their various supplier machine builders. But if I demand such a software platform, I also have to have my own strategic development - and this is where we can make an important contribution.

How exactly do you support manufacturing companies?
One example: in mid-2014, we started working with a manufacturing company, an automotive supplier, on the joint development of a software framework for assembly and test lines. This framework is intended to standardize the software architecture and the functionalities of the automation software of all supplying machine manufacturers. The ultimate aim is to achieve a significant increase in quality, a considerable reduction in development times and shorter commissioning times for individual software. In addition, standardization also significantly reduces the workload of maintenance personnel and increases plant availability during ongoing plant operation. We are currently putting this framework into operation on a single machine. It will then be rolled out to the development of a large interlinked production machine.

Does this put you in competition with traditional automation companies?
On the contrary! On the contrary, we are developing an intensive collaboration with these providers, which generates many synergy effects and ultimately leads to considerable added value for the customers of both companies. For example, we have integrated many automation components and technologies from Beckhoff and Lenze into the aforementioned framework. The complete object-oriented framework development was also realized on the basis of TwinCAT 3 and Visual Studio.

Two years ago, you also set yourself the goal of "actively shaping the future through pioneering work in the field of Industry 4.0 and Cyber Physical Systems". What have you been able to achieve and what do you still want to achieve?
Industry 4.0 is no longer hype, it is already a reality. With our framework technology, we have created the technological basis for Industry 4.0 middleware and cyber-physical systems that meet the requirements of the production of the future. In further steps, we are also expanding our basic platform technologies to include our iAgent agent system and OPC UA.