Digi­ta­li­sa­tion as the answer to the skills shortage

Nowa­days, many jobs in the water industry are vacant. However, the chal­lenges and tasks are beco­ming ever greater. With our engi­nee­ring plat­form ISO by zahnen, we have the answer to close this gap.

Our digital employees use the plat­form to support our custo­mers in a wide range of use cases, such as desig­ning systems, tende­ring and prepa­ring offers, through to preli­mi­nary plan­ning, detailed engi­nee­ring, auto­ma­tion of systems and docu­men­ta­tion. By using the plat­form, exis­ting staff can work much more effi­ci­ently. Moreover the inde­pen­dence from indi­vi­dual personal know­ledge is signi­fi­cantly increased. This avoids mistakes and reduces a great deal of effort through automation.

Indi­vi­dual Stan­dard Optimisation

What does “ISO by zahnen” mean?

‘ISO’ stands for ‘Indi­vi­dual Stan­dard Opti­mi­sa­tion’, which means that each customer receives their own solu­tion tail­ored to their requi­re­ments (e.g. tech­no­logy, soft­ware, processes). This solu­tion is deve­loped by digi­ta­li­sing and auto­ma­ting the customer’s knowledge.

Digi­ta­lised know­ledge means regu­la­tions, libraries/databases and the auto­mated crea­tion of docu­ments. The customer receives an intui­tive inter­face that guides the user through the confi­gu­ra­tion of the project and guaran­tees consis­t­ently high quality thanks to the digital regu­la­tions. Docu­ments (quota­tion, circuit diagram, 3D model, PLC programme, etc.) are auto­ma­ti­cally created by the plat­form based on this data. The plat­form can also carry out process engi­nee­ring designs and complex calculations.

Your chal­lenges — our solutions

Know­ledge conservation

As a result of demo­gra­phic change and staff turnover, compa­nies are losing a great deal of indi­vi­dual exper­tise. Compa­nies are often depen­dent on the indi­vi­dual know­ledge of indi­vi­dual employees.

Our solu­tion

Use of digi­ta­lised knowledge

  • Provi­ding and distri­bu­ting all digi­tised know­ledge for all employees (ever­yone has access to the same know­ledge base). 
  • Know­ledge assu­rance (reti­re­ment, staff turnover). 

    • Know­ledge as a Service

    • Digi­ta­lised, auto­mated know­ledge of employees as an intel­li­gent set of rules with intui­tive use. 
    • Specific retrieval of rele­vant information.
    • Vali­da­tion of entries (quality assurance). 
    • Defi­ni­tion of internal company stan­dards that are valid for all projects.

    Avoi­ding mistakes

    Mistakes require a lot of resources and cost a lot of money. Mistake costs increase expo­nen­ti­ally the later they are found (rule of 10 of mistake costs). In addi­tion, commu­ni­ca­tion problems and outdated or incor­rect templates lead to many mistakes. 

    Our solu­tion

    Know­ledge as a Service

    • Simple, constantly updated configuration.
    • Custo­mised query of rele­vant infor­ma­tion -> Consis­tent, complete and high-quality infor­ma­tion on the plat­form, regard­less of the person involved. 
    • Vali­da­tion of entries (quality assurance). 
    • Enormous mistake reduc­tion in all project instances. 

      • Engi­nee­ring as a Service

      • Auto­matic gene­ra­tion of docu­ments & software.
      • Consis­tent, person-inde­pen­dent and high-quality documents. 
      • Mistake avoid­ance thanks to checked templates and auto­matic interpretation. 

        • Cost and time savings

        • Avoi­ding mistakes. 
        • Auto­ma­tion of processes. 
        • More turnover with the same personnel costs thanks to a considerable increase in efficiency. 

        Digi­ta­li­sa­tion and auto­ma­tion of processes

        Many compa­nies have problems with their digi­ta­li­sa­tion stra­te­gies. The poten­tial is often not fully used. Simply repli­ca­ting exis­ting processes digi­tally often does not bring any added value (PDFs are not digitisation).

        Our solu­tion

        Consul­ting by zahnen

        • We don’t just offer all our digi­tised know­ledge to our custo­mers, we also support them with our large expe­ri­ence in the areas of stan­dar­di­s­a­tion, digi­ti­sa­tion and auto­ma­tion to develop the perfect solution.

          • Single Source of Truth

          • Digital visua­li­sa­tion of processes inclu­ding auto­matic use of addi­tional poten­tial (e.g. upsel­ling in sales).
          • Defi­ni­tion of internal company stan­dards that are valid for all projects. Guaran­teed and consis­tent use of these standards.
          • Up-to-date, leading, centra­lised data­base and data­base for all projects.
          • Simple inter­na­tional colla­bo­ra­tion through confi­gu­ra­tion and gene­ra­tion in any language.
          • Centra­lised infor­ma­tion base for all employees — ‘ever­yone speaks the same language’.
          • Reduce data loss & increase data quality.

            • Know­ledge as a Service

            • Stan­dar­dised digital visua­li­sa­tion of processes.
            • Stan­dar­dised design of plant tech­no­logy with digi­ta­lised knowledge.
            • Employee guidance through process and intui­tive configuration.
            • Vali­da­tion of inputs (quality assurance).

            Skills shortage

            Many vacan­cies will not be filled. Around 12.9 million people in Germany’s labour force will have reached reti­re­ment age by 2036. This repres­ents almost 30 % of the people available to the labour market (source: Destatis). It is not an effec­tive stra­tegy to look for people who were never born.

            Our solu­tion

            Digi­ta­lised know­ledge for everyone

            • Distri­bu­tion of know­ledge to all employees. Ever­yone has access to the same know­ledge base.
            • Faster onboar­ding of new employees. 

              • Engi­nee­ring as a Service

              • Auto­matic crea­tion of docu­ments. This leads to a considerable increase in efficiency. 
              • Error reduc­tion thanks to checked templates and auto­matic interpretations. 

                • Cost and time savings

                • Error reduc­tion.
                • Auto­ma­tion of processes. 
                • More turnover with the same personnel expen­diture due to a considerable increase in efficiency. 

                Get started with your digital employees — specia­lised to your requirements

                In order to face these chal­lenges, we have been working on these issues for years and have met them through digi­ta­li­sa­tion, stan­dar­di­s­a­tion and auto­ma­tion. This has resulted in the ISO by zahnen plat­form, which we improve conti­nuously. Our digital employees use the plat­form to support our custo­mers in their daily work and perform important tasks.

                Water Pioneer

                “Hello, I am Water Pioneer. I provide you with compre­hen­sive support in all areas from preplan­ning to the submis­sion process. You benefit from my exten­sive know­ledge in the field of water tech­no­logy. I can fully apply my skills to new cons­truc­tion as well as the moder­ni­sa­tion of exis­ting water and waste­water treat­ment plants.”

                Water Engi­neer

                “Hello I am Water Engi­neer. I provide you with exten­sive support in the cons­truc­tion of water faci­li­ties in ever­y­thing in the field of engi­nee­ring. You will benefit from my exten­sive exper­tise from the deve­lo­p­ment and cons­truc­tion up to the accep­tance and final docu­men­ta­tion of the plants.”

                Water Intel­li­gence

                “Hello, my name is Water Intel­li­gence. I am your supporter throug­hout the entire project process for water and waste­water treat­ment plants. I provide ever­y­thing to plan and execute a project comple­tely from preplan­ning to acceptance.
                I can provide all the services of my two colle­agues Water Pioneer and Water Engineer.”

                Are you inte­rested in ISO? Get started with our tool!

                • On-site imple­men­ta­tion at the customer’s company with 2–3 experts from Zahnen and the customer’s project team

                • Colla­bo­ra­tive defi­ni­tion of requi­re­ments and frame­work conditions

                • What must the new employee be able to do? Selec­tion of the employee

                • After­wards: Deve­lo­p­ment of a detailed concept for the deploy­ment of ISO by zahnen at the customer’s premises

                • Trai­ning of the new digital employee

                • The stan­dard for the customer is defined, docu­mented and digi­ta­lised toge­ther in various workshops

                • Crea­ting the best possible solu­tion for the customer

                • Deve­lo­p­ment of the custo­mised configuration

                • Proto­ty­ping — We try to provide a proto­type as early as possible in order to be able to incor­po­rate feed­back from end users into the deve­lo­p­ment as early as possible

                • Transfer of the plat­form to the customer

                • Auto­no­mous work with the plat­form. Your digital employees support you in your daily work

                • Conti­nuous deve­lo­p­ment and impro­ve­ment of the platform

                Our strong and reliable partner for ISO

                This is digi­ta­li­sa­tion in its purest form, demons­t­ra­ting impres­si­vely how digital inno­va­tions can maxi­mise the quality of life for people and the environment.

                Your contact: Daniel Roderich