Mit Low-Code vom digitalen Produktpass bis zur Automatisierung ganzer Wertschöpfungsketten

Medium-sized companies are under enormous market pressure. They are caught between the conflicting priorities of increasing customer requirements, a growing shortage of skilled workers and complex legal framework conditions, including in relation to cybersecurity, sustainability and due diligence obligations regarding human rights and climate protection. Digitalization and automation of business processes promise to reduce this pressure on companies, meet the requirements of various stakeholders in less time and gain freedom for strategic action.

A manufacturer of machine components is used to demonstrate the role that low-code approaches play in the digital transformation of medium-sized companies. Using a low-code integration platform, the existing but isolated data and information in the company was accessed and merged from the various IT systems in a task-oriented manner. Using APIs and appealing front ends, this data was specifically prepared for the various stakeholders (customers, service partners, internal sales and service departments) and made available as a digital product passport. Thanks to the use of low-code approaches, the total effort required was only 20 man-days.

The article first provides a definition of the term and then gives an insight into the conception and implementation of the digital product passport, discusses the limits of low-code approaches using concrete scenarios and shows possible solutions. An outlook on the connection between low-code and artificial intelligence rounds off the article.