KUKA Systems GmbH and FlexFactory GmbH by MHP | Munich Re | Porsche announced a strategic cooperatio¡ at the automatica trade fair in Munich to jointly offer pay-on-production. The aim of the cooperation is to offer customers adaptable production capacities that are booked as a service. Customers can thus focus entirely on product development and customer satisfaction without having to bear investment costs.
Adapting traditional processes to economic change
Triggered by dynamically changing customer expectations that put manufacturing companies under high investment pressure, the economy is currently undergoing a major transformation. To remain competitive in the future, traditional processes must be adapted. The targeted concept for operator models can achieve exactly this.
Considering the current challenge of supply chains that no longer function globally, the price increases in the freight sector and the trend of relocating production sites back to Europe, we see great potential in this concept
Gerald Mies, CEO of KUKA Systems
Increase liquidity and productivity
In the operator model, or pay-on-production, the customer does not buy a production plant, but only purchases the parts produced. The customer pays a predefined price per product. In this way, the capital tied up by the two partners in machinery and equipment is recouped through the service provided. Pay-on-production is a concept developed and successfully practiced in the automotive industry, which immediately made production the most productive in the world in terms of assembly hours per vehicle. With KUKA Toledo Production Operations, which has been manufacturing body shells according to this model since 2006, KUKA has already gained many years of experience in the field.
With KUKA, we have a very experienced partner at our side, with whose expertise in automation technology as well as real-world pay-on-production models we can successfully implement and scale the “production as a service” business model
Dr. Philipp Hypko, Managing Director FlexFactory