Ralf Werker, Vice President of Operations at allmineral Aufbereitungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG, takes off his VR glasses. He is impressed: Martina Craft, Managing Director of “Craft Future Tecc” and her colleagues have just spent 30 minutes showing how they digitised their company with the help of solutions from Cideon: She was accompanied by Stefanie from Technical Sales, Design Manager Gerhard from the Engineering Division and Ingmar, the production manager. However, the four women and men do not exist in reality, in fact they are avatars in a virtual space where real people such as sales representatives, engineers or managing directors can visit all stages of the value chain.

During the virtual tour of the company, these real people can gain access to every corporate area of “Craft Future Tecc” – from Sales to Purchasing and Logistics, and from Engineering and Assembly to Service – and learn how work steps have been automated with the aid of digitisation and how huge potentials could be leveraged.

VISITORS IN VIRTUAL SPACE

“Craft Future Tecc” is Cideon’s new digital reference customer. Now, it can be visited at the brand new Cideon UpSpace in Düsseldorf every day. There are for two reasons why it is being presented virtually: Recognising the potential for digitalisation – this is one of the central challenges that also worries the mechanical and plant engineering sector. To do this, knowledge and expertise must be accumulated – as quickly as possible. But how exactly can one get started? Best practice applications, which can be experienced live during a reference visit, are an ideal option. However, this is currently difficult; on-site visits to reference customers are hardly feasible in times of Corona.

That’s why developers and sales staff from Cideon came up with the idea of making themselves independent of real reference customers with the help of digitisation and virtual reality. This is how the idea arose of developing and presenting the story of a virtual customer who uses Cideon’s skills as a system integrator to make his company fit for the future – consistently and across all areas. Visitors to the Cideon UpSpace can take a virtual peek over the shoulders of the employees as they work, intervene in what is happening and thus experience the benefits of the digital solutions at first-hand. For example, with Vernon Appenzeller from the Service Department. There, Cideon Enify has succeeded in correcting customer malfunctions in real time – this is possible worldwide and is just one of many examples showing that digitisation increases the innovative power of machine and plant constructors, as well as improving the quality of their products and services.

EXPERIENCING, DISCOVERING AND DEVELOPING DIGITAL PROCESSES

After half-an-hour, the compelling journey through the virtual world is far from over for Ralf Werker. He has many questions in his head that he would like to put to Cideon’s experts and system administrators. That’s no problem either. The virtual reference customer visit is part of a discovery workshop, so Werker can talk to Gerhard Wulff, Principal Solution Manager at Cideon, for example, about the next steps in digitisation, and define fields of action for his company.

For instance, he wants to know how to increase the order rate in technical sales through 3D quote layouts, reduce engineering costs through efficient CAD use, or organise data management so that departments work together across departments. Werker has question after question that Wulff and his colleagues answer proficiently and which highlight Cideon’s expertise in engineering and as a system integrator.

At the end of his visit, Werker already has the first ideas in his head for further digitisation processes in his department. These ideas arose through the completely new user experience and the VR-based learning of references. This was all made possible by Cideon UpSpace and the virtual “Craft Future Tecc” company. And the VR glasses also gave him an insight into the new digital world!