SAP Innovation

Future Factory Initiative: revolutionizing the manufacturing industry

Researcher using new manufacturing technology in the Future Factory Managed by our team in Dresden, the Future Factory Initiative is a joint effort between Global Research and Business Incubation and industrial partners to foster co-innovation, research, and development for the manufacturing industry.
Using a real-world setting, the Future Factory Initiative presents leading edge software and the latest hardware with different scenarios, SAP products, and prototypes in a typical discrete manufacturing environment. With more than 20 partners, including large, midsize, and small companies, the Future Factory Initiative constitutes a heterogeneous and strong ecosystem of market and technology leaders.

Following the SAP corporate strategy to develop the world's best business applications for on-premise, on-demand, on-device, and orchestration, the Future Factory Initiative focuses on insight, collaboration, and new users:

Insight
Gaining full transparency and insight into all manufacturing processes is a premise for continuous improvement. Global Research and Business Incubation addresses the challenges around data acquisition, system integration, and visualization. Supporting sustainable and energy-efficient production is a particular focus of current research and development.
Collaboration
Collaboration within and across enterprise boundaries is becoming increasingly important as value creation is more and more distributed. Global Research and Business Incubation addresses the challenges around supply network collaboration, the information exchange between engineering and manufacturing departments, and the processes and technology for enabling product-as-a-service business models.
New Users
With the advent of new technologies, such as smart phones and virtually ubiquitous Internet connectivity, more and more people are looking for access to information and services. Global Research and Business Incubation applies current trends and technologies, such as the Social Web, Web 2.0, and mobile, to the processes in manufacturing and service management. Supporting shop floor workers during task execution is a particular focus of this work.

Preview the Virtual Future Factory in Dresden ›

Contact Us
Learn how your organization can participate in the Future Factory Initiative:
Global Research and Business Incubation Dresden
E-mail: research.dresden@sap.com

Future Factory Initiative: Core Partners

The following industrial and academic organizations are currently collaborating with us on research projects for the manufacturing industry:

	Endress+Hauser AG Kägenstrasse 2 4153 Reinach, Switzerland Contact: Juergen Schrempp Phone: +49 (0)761 7059 114 E-mail: juergen.schrempp@infoserve.endress.com
	European Microsoft Innovation Center (EMIC) Ritterstraße 23 52072 Aachen, Germany Contact: Dr. Joris Claessens Phone: +49 (0)241 99784619 Fax: +49 (0)241 9978477 E-mail: joris.claessens@microsoft.com
	Festo Didactic GmbH & Co.KG Rechbergstraße 3 73770 Denkendorf, Germany E-mail: stg@de.festo.com
	Hewlett Packard Altrottstrasse 31 69190 Walldorf, Germany E-mail: peter.gibbels@hp.com
	Intel GmbH Dornacherstr. 1 85622 Feldkirchen bei München, Germany Contact: Oliver Roos Phone: +49 (0)89 991430 E-mail: oliver.roos@intel.com
	Kaba GmbH Albertistr. 3 78056 Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany Phone: +49 (0)7720 603 0 Fax: +49 (0)7720 603 185 E-mail: cmoser@kbs.kaba.com
	Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V. Gothaer Strasse 8 40880 Ratingen, Germany Phone: +49 (0)2102 486 7800 Fax: +49 (0)2102 486 7170 E-mail: chris.hazelwood@meg.mee.com

Future Factory Initiative: Associated Partners

The following organizations contribute ideas and sponsor software or hardware for our projects for the manufacturing industry:

	Agilion GmbH Blankenauer Straße 74 09113 Chemnitz, Germany Phone: +49 (0)371 45 00 48-0 E-mail: service@agilion.de
	Beckhoff Automation GmbH Eiserstraße 5 33415 Verl, Germany Phone: + 49 (0)52 46 9 63 - 0 E-mail: info@beckhoff.de
	ICONICS Germany GmbH Siegburger Strasse 39d 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany Phone: +49 (0)2241-165 08-0 Fax: +49 (0)2241-165 08-12 E-mail: germany@iconics.com
	Janz Tec AG Im Doerener Feld 8 33100 Paderborn, Germany Phone: +49 (0)5251 1550-100 Fax: +49 (0)5251 1550-190 E-mail: michael.rennerich@janztec.com
	metraTec GmbH Werner-Heisenberg-Str. 1 39106 Magdeburg, Germany Phone: +49 (0)391 251906-00 E-mail: info@metratec.com
	Mettler-Toledo GmbH Ockerweg 3 35396 Gießen, Germany Phone: +49 (0)641 507-0 E-mail: InfoIndustrie.mtd@mt.com
	Mitutoyo Messgeräte GmbH Sales Promotion Borsigstrasse 8-10 41469 Neuss, Germany Phone: +49 (0)2137 10 20 Fax: +49 (0)2137 10 86 85 E-mail: info@mitutoyo.de
	OPC Foundation 16101 N. 82nd St., Suite 3B Scottsdale, AZ 85260-1830, USA Phone: +1-480-483-6644 Fax: +1-480-483-7202 E-mail: info@opcfoundation.org
	Perle Systems GmbH Schlachte 12/13 28195 Bremen, Germany Phone: +49 (0)421 3677 198, +49 (0)160 9692 3285 Fax: +49 (0)421 3677 197 E-mail: rwenskowski@perle.com
	Psion GmbH Jakob-Kaiser-Str. 3 47877 Willich, Germany Phone: +49 (0)2154 92 82-0 Fax: +49 (0)2154 92 82-200 E-mail: kontakt@psion.com
	SAUTER Group Fr. Sauter AG Im Surinam 55 CH-4016 Basel, Switzerland Phone: +41 (0)61 6955 555 E-mail: info@ch.sauter-bc.com
	SMILOG GmbH Weserstrasse 15a 14612 Falkensee, Germany Phone: +49 (0)30 3680 2082 E-mail: andrew.guske@smilog.com
	Trebing & Himstedt Prozessautomation GmbH & Co. KG Wilhelm-Hennemann-Str. 13 19061 Schwerin, Germany Phone: +49 (0)385 395720 Fax: +49 (0)385 39572-22 E-mail: sales-mi@t-h.de
	T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH Riesaer Straße 5 01129 Dresden, Germany Phone: +49 (0)351 2820 2602 Fax: +49 (0)351 2820 4602 E-mail: rene.haerta@t-systems.com
	ubigrate GmbH Herkulesstr. 1 01277 Dresden, Germany Phone: +49 (0)351 2118729 E-mail: info@ubigrate.com