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Wood Pro goes from greenfield to fully digitalised production
We supported Wood Pro in their plans to achieve cost, time, and resource savings by establishing a fully automated and digitalised production process for industrial and commercial timber construction.
In the construction industry, automated digital processes are currently rare. To change this, the Rhomberg Group, an international full-service provider for private and public construction projects, and the Pfeifer Group, a leading European timber construction company, have founded the Wood Pro joint venture.
Their shared goal is to revolutionise timber construction by implementing a fully automated and digitalised production process. This mission will not only reduce construction costs but also save time and resources, especially in large-scale projects. For instance, planners should receive a complete offer, including the delivery time, within 30 minutes of submitting their digital plans.
“With Zühlke, we have found a partner who supports our innovation project with a unique combination of consulting and IT expertise, from greenfield to fully digitalised factory.”
The vision: from greenfield to fully digitalised production
The challenge for Wood Pro was that there was only the idea and a greenfield site where the digitalised factory would be built. The company relied on Zühlke's extensive IT and digitalisation expertise to make this idea come to life. Together, we developed a technical and organisational concept that not only makes the vision tangible but also lays the foundation for the new digital business model.
Focus on customer journey and business value
Initially, our experts and Wood Pro jointly analysed the project's requirements. The focus was on business value and creating an efficient customer journey, from production planning to the assembly of a building. Key questions we asked were:
- How can a value chain be created that offers the greatest benefit to both customers and Wood Pro?
- What is the first step towards reaching this goal?
Our team outlined a technical and organisational concept that highlighted challenges and potential obstacles, such as interfaces, machine networking, software landscape, communication standards, infrastructure, and partnerships.
Roadmap to digital revolution: from vision to reality
The result of the intensive collaboration between Wood Pro and Zühlke was a comprehensive roadmap, providing a clear organisational and technical plan for transforming the greenfield site into the finished factory with digitalised production. The roadmap clearly defined the steps to be implemented and the timeline until the first component rolls off the production line.
Every aspect was considered, from personnel planning and necessary support from parent companies to recommendations on standard solutions versus custom development. The concept also included an enterprise IT architecture which will enable the fully digital and automated production to be implemented later, in partnership with Microsoft. Overall, the visionary approach of the Rhomberg Group and the Pfeifer Group allows for the development of new business fields and revenue streams based on Wood Pro's innovative digital business models.
