Center for Enterprise Research

The Center for Enterprise Research (CER) bundles technology and knowledge from research for practice. Our ﬁelds of expertise are oﬀered in research projects, studies, workshops and lectures. Our range of services extends from the design of the IT strategy to assistance in system selection and implementation and the certiﬁcation of ERP systems. The CER staﬀ has several years of experience in supporting projects in the ERP sector. Under the direction of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Norbert Gronau, the results of scientiﬁc research have in many cases been successfully transferred into practice-oriented solutions.

Expertise Analytics

Industry 4.0 deﬁnes the trend towards interlinking production with modern information and communication technologies for communication between people, machines and products. modern analytics promotes the design, optimization, control and use of globally networked analysis techniques and integrates simple business intelligence techniques and business analytics techniques. Especially with the background of production environments in the context of Industry 4.0, analyses that enable the handling of voluminous, volatile sensor data with a large number of variants become relevant, so that the handling of big data characterizes the ﬁeld of analytics. In addition to the expansion and improvement of existing oﬀerings, the use of modern analytics enables the development of new business areas and potential for companies in a wide range of industries. This is often accompanied by changes in organisational structures, business models and value chains.

Expertise ERP-Systems

ERP systems form the engine of information processing in companies and many public institutions. They contain all information essential for the operation and control of value-adding business processes. In the age of digitalization, ERP systems are cornerstones of business success. The Center for Enterprise Research is one of the largest research and transfer institutions in this ﬁeld in Europe. Our practice-oriented transfer research covers all relevant topics related to ERP systems and other business application systems, e.g. architectures, technologies, usability, customizing, maintenance and operation, integration, master data management, process management and much more.

Expertise Change Management

The accelerated technological change due to digitization and the associated structural changes in the role of the employee in the value-added process illustrate the need for continuous and comprehensive change management. The tasks of change management do not only relate to the communication of change and the creation of opportunities for participation, they also start with the design of processes and systems. Only in this way can the attitude of the employees be positively inﬂuenced and a concrete beneﬁt of the transformation be presented. Through the combination of technical, sociological and psychological expertise, the CER oﬀers opportunities to analyse your company and to accompany transformation projects from the beginning to successful implementation.

Expertise Business Process Management

Not only due to the use of advancing technologies such as cyber-physical systems, Internet of Things, Artiﬁcial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, etc., increasingly complex business models and extended value chains, requirements for the design and improvement of business processes are increasing. The challenge is increasing to integrate processes into own structures in such a way that companies are able to change and adapt ﬂexibly to ongoing changes in their environment. Modern business process management (GPM, engl. BPM) promotes the design, optimization and control of globally networked business processes. In addition to the exchange of materials, data and knowledge, networking enables the realization of cooperative value-added processes, even across physical distances. The use of a modern GPM enables the development of new business ﬁelds and potentials for companies of diﬀerent industries. Frequently associated with this are changed organisational structures, business models and value chains.

Expertise Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 provides modern technologies to design decentralized controlled production plants with intelligent and self-controlling elements in the workshop. Cyber-physical systems and their networking to the Internet of Things are beneﬁcial concepts for mastering the complexity of today's production requirements and allow new forms of human-technology interaction. In our Industry 4.0 Research and Application Center, we oﬀer interested parties from various ﬁelds the opportunity for an intensive and goal-oriented examination of the Industry 4.0 topic: Manufacturing companies can compare diﬀerent design options from the I4.0 toolbox for their processes and have employees trained in parallel. Software and hardware providers have the possibility to use our simulation environment as an evaluation platform. We are available to providers and research institutions as a competent project partner. In particular, the integrated consideration of people, technology and organisation enables fast and low-cost fact-based statements to be made on the eﬀect and beneﬁts of concepts and technologies within sociotechnical systems.

Expertise Internet of Things

Technologies such as cyber-physical systems (CPS), intelligent production organisation through the networking of entities, information availability or decentralised decision-making are increasingly penetrating industrial value-added processes. But not only industrial processes, also in the service environment as well as in the leisure sector more and more Internet of Things components and applications are establishing themselves. The Internet of Things refers to the global networking of various objects. In addition to data exchange, networking enables the realisation of cooperative value-added processes across physical distances. The use of Internet of Things technologies enables the development of new business areas for companies from a wide range of industries. This is often accompanied by changes in business models and value chains.

Expertise Qualiﬁcations

Cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things are driving digitization and networking of both value-added and supporting processes. This development is characterized by a multitude of technical, process-related and organizational innovations, which, not least, have a massive impact on the working reality of all employees. The result is a change in the demands on competences, skills and qualiﬁcations of the people involved. In cooperation with the Research and Application Center Industry 4.0, we regularly qualify customers who are facing current and future challenges. The modular structure of the qualiﬁcation oﬀer makes it possible to address speciﬁc learning contents that are tailored to the needs of the customers. Last but not least, the combination of theoretical and practice-oriented seminar phases contributes to the development of a basic understanding of, for example, Industry 4.0, corresponding technologies and organizational principles.

Expertise Security

Especially in the course of digitalization, security in all its facets becomes a critical factor for success. The know-how built up in the company over the years should be preserved and not fall into the hands of the competition. Many everyday areas are massively dependent on functioning IT systems and must be protected. Actively promoting IT security and, above all, the associated structured establishment of a functioning security process are necessary to protect the interests of the company. A multitude of factors play an important role here. If my employees are suﬃciently sensitized in which security measures I will invest next, my processes are suﬃciently protected at all and how do I counter future attacks. The CER therefore examines IT security issues from as many perspectives as possible. Starting with product piracy through the outﬂow of know-how and questions of sensitization as well as the recommendation of measures for process design.

Expertise Knowledge Management

The importance of knowledge as a resource for companies is undisputed. However, its management is proving to be a major challenge. Knowledge cannot be regarded merely as an object that can be handled according to certain rules. This is only possible for explicit knowledge, equal to information. However, parts of knowledge are tacit, personal and its management is indirect by addressing the knowledge carriers. Our competences in the ﬁeld of knowledge management are as diverse as the term itself. Depending on the goals set at the beginning of a project, the focus is set diﬀerently. On the one hand, the focus can be on promoting knowledge transfer. For this purpose our competences in the area of innovation management, especially open innovation, are advantageous. Another possible focus is knowledge protection. The relevant keyword here is product piracy. Companies continue to beneﬁt from our expertise in the modelling and analysis of knowledge-intensive business processes. The development of competencies, education and training - especially in the context of digital change - round oﬀ our proﬁle.