A conversation with Britta Waligora on the path to digital value creation

Britta Waligora: Asset administration shells are essentially the digital representations of physical products or components. They contain all relevant information and data that accompany a product throughout its entire lifecycle - from development and production to use and maintenance. The key point: if all participants along the value chain take part, true interoperability emerges. Machines, systems, and companies can then communicate with each other efficiently.

Britta Waligora: Because asset administration shells are based on shared standards. If only individual companies get involved, data exchange remains fragmented. Only when everyone - from small suppliers to large machine manufacturers - provides data in a standardized format does a seamless digital ecosystem emerge. Then, for example, a customer can directly process machine-readable information without any manual intervention.

Britta Waligora: That’s completely understandable. My most important advice is: start small. Choose one or two product groups and begin there. This allows you to gain initial experience, learn how to prepare data, implement simple use cases, and gradually expand digital value creation step by step. This iterative approach is the key to success.

Britta Waligora: Clearly: data quality. Hardly any company has complete and consistent data from the outset. Legacy systems, duplicate entries, and data silos are everyday realities. It’s important to select use cases with learning potential. Regularly gather feedback from customers - that helps you systematically enrich and improve your data.

Britta Waligora: Certainly. The process essentially consists of four building blocks:

1. Source systems: This is where existing company data is captured.
2. Generation module: The data is transformed and processed to create asset administration shells.
3. Infrastructure platform: The shells are stored and made available here.
4. Target systems or customer portals: This is where the data is made available in machine-readable form.

With this approach, a functional process can often be implemented within just a few months.

Britta Waligora: Absolutely. Technical solutions alone are not enough. Management must support the topic strategically and allocate resources. At the same time, operational teams are crucial because they implement the asset administration shells in day-to-day work. Innovation departments can provide the initial impulse, but implementation must be rolled out across the organization.

Britta Waligora: SMEs should definitely rely on partnerships and standard platforms. This allows them to outsource technical complexity while benefiting from proven solutions. No one has to reinvent the wheel - there are already many good tools and partners available to provide support.

Britta Waligora: Asset administration shells are complex, yes - but not rocket science. What matters is to start now: small, pragmatic, and focused on learning. Those who start early gain valuable experience and secure a competitive advantage. And the more companies participate, the greater the benefit for everyone.

The opportunity is now - the more companies take part, the more we all benefit.