German Cost Accounting

Paul Sharman, ACMA, former CEO of the Institute of Management Accountants, says German accounting systems developed in response to a financial accounting system that was highly defined by government reporting requirements but wasn’t especially helpful to managers in supplying information needed to manage the business.

Jun 1st, 2011

Developed shortly after World War II, Grenzplankostenrechnung (GPK in English) was applied to many manufacturing companies in Germany and German-speaking countries, as well as to banks and the postal system. In 2003, Sharman visited the controller’s department in six corporations: Porsche (cars), Stihl (chain saws), DaimlerChrysler AG (cars), Rasselstein Hoesch (steel), Magna Steyr (cars) and Brau Union (beer). All had been using GPK for more than 20 years. When Sharman asked “if operations managers were happy with the system and trust it,… the answer was an overwhelming ‘yes’ in all cases,” he says.

Subscribe to Automation World's RSS Feeds for Feature Articles

Iveco Reduces Worker Injuries with Wearable Exoskeletons

Vehicle manufacturer Iveco has been successfully outfitting assembly workers with Comau’s Mate exoskeleton since 2018.

Screen Shot 2022 04 28 3

Delphon Puts Robots-as-a-Service to Work

Delphon hires the Rapid Machine Operator from Rapid Robotics to improve production in its TouchMark and Gel-Pak operations.

Implementation of a Data Pump with Ignition

A “data pump” approach to historicizing data can be advantageous in batch operations that require highly detailed records be kept.

Private 5G for Industrial Environments

Following major deployments by TCL Manufacturing, Volkswagen, and British Sugar, 5G is continuing to gain steam.

What Is A Machine Risk Assessment?

Learn the details of machine risk assessments, what types of equipment require them, who's responsible for them, when to begin the process, and how to comply with machine risk assessment regulations in this episode featuring Schmersal USA's Devin Murray.

4 Questions to Ask About Industrial Cybersecurity Software

From regulatory compliance and configuration security to potential downtime impacts, Gabe Authier of Tripwire highlights the major issues to address when evaluating cybersecurity software.

Getty Images 1194981755

TSN Plugfest Focuses on Interoperability

Participants in Avnu Alliance’s Time-Sensitive Networking plugfest test their deployments in a collaborative environment.

Matt Rendall, CEO and co-founder of Otto Motors, speaking at the Robotics Summit & Expo in Boston.

Moving Robots Into the Matrix

Otto Motors uses simulation to mitigate risk when deploying a fleet of autonomous mobile robots.

Fieldbus organizations like the EtherCAT Technology Group acknowledge the value of OPC UA and see it as a complementary standard in industrial control networking. Courtesy: EtherCAT Technology Group

How OPC UA Creates Interoperability and Gives Data Context

This second installment in a four-part series on key industrial network technologies explains why OPC UA continues to be recognized as the global interoperability method of choice for industrial automation technologies.

Proficy Historian For Cloud 3200x1404

The First Cloud-Native Data Historian

GE Digital stakes a claim to the world’s first cloud-native operational data historian with the release of its Proficy Historian for the Cloud on the AWS Marketplace.

Retrofit or Upgrade: What’s Best for Your Facility?

When undertaking a controls project, beginning with an installed base evaluation can help determine if a retrofit or complete upgrade will be more advantageous in the long run.

LOGO! 8.3 Logic Modules

LOGO! module now performs functions previously reserved for larger controllers. Users are no longer limited by the storage volume of the SD card but can now send it to the cloud.

Screen Shot 2022 05 14 At 4 56 45 Pm

Managing Network Security on Your Plant Floor

A safe and secure network is paramount to ensuring a company’s ability to thrive in today’s digital age. Simply making the change from an unmanaged switch to a lean managed industrial switch could be the key to saving you from a cyber-attack.

Advantages of a Smart MQTT Broker

Understanding how a smart MQTT broker provides ways to aggregate data streams, keep them consistent, and distribute them securely across a complex network to ensure the success of Internet of Things projects of any size or complexity.

Screen Shot 2022 05 14 At 4 37 18 Pm

Answering the Top 7 Questions About Profinet

We get a lot of questions here at PI North America from end users, distributors, system integrators, and device vendors. Here are our answers to the questions we get asked most.

Connecting Cloud-Based Quality Control to the Edge

Intrinsics Imaging’s AI-powered vision system uses edge I/O to integrate cloud analytics into process controls.

0522 Iiot eh Williams

Effective Instrument Commissioning for Seamless Project Startups

Finishing a major automation project on time and on budget depends on putting the best digital tools in the hands of highly skilled people.

Screen Shot 2022 05 14 At 3 29 28 Pm

IT-OT Convergence Has Always Been The Path Forward

Long before Industry 4.0 and cloud-connected architectures became possible, innovators championed PC-based technologies for industrial automation.

MESA Foundry Twin: An abstracted framework for a digital twin in a foundry. For more info, visit: awgo.to/1410

Is Continuous Optimization of an Asset Possible?

Learn why detection of sub-optimality is required not only to avoid unexpected failures, but also to achieve superior performance, and how continuous asset optimization can be achieved.

Getty Images 1394152891

Eliminating Data Siloes for Better Cybersecurity

ServiceNow is augmenting its Now platform with asset inventory and vulnerability data from Tenable’s Tenable.ot to enable mitigation of operations level cybersecurity threats as part of user workflows.

More in Home

Why High-Mix, Low-Volume Manufacturers are Adopting Flexible Automation

Growing demands for customization, increasing numbers of SKUs, and ongoing labor issues are leading HMLV manufacturers to adopt more easily configurable automation hardware and software.

Siemens Synth Ai

Synthetic Data and Artificial Intelligence Combine to Improve Machine Vision

By creating synthetic data from 3D CAD data, Siemens’ SynthAI helps machine vision systems be more rapidly deployed for applications ranging from quality control to robotic picking and assembly operations.

Technology makes manufacturing more efficient, but also creates vulnerabilities.

Hackers Shift Focus to Packaging and Processing

Pervasive new technology increases entry points for cyber attacks. Discover cybersecurity solutions at PACK EXPO International (Oct. 23-26; McCormick Place, Chicago).

Penn Waste recycling sorting operations. Source: wastetodaymagazine.com

Minimizing Machine Downtime with Bluetooth Gateways and Smart Sensors

Using a combination of Bluetooth gateways from Cassia Networks and smart sensors from Dodge Industrial, Penn Waste provides its maintenance engineers with needed visibility into equipment operations.

What is Defense-in-Depth?

As more IIoT-connected equipment makes its way onto the plant floor, defense-in-depth cybersecurity strategies are supplanting perimeter-based approaches.

Honeywell Expands Its Forge Software Capabilities

Through a targeted focus on software-as-a-service, Honeywell Connected Enterprise is expanding its Honeywell Forge technology with the release of Connected Warehouse and updates to its Asset Performance Management software.

Zero-Infrastructure Cybersecurity

Claroty Edge gives end users visibility into their industrial networks to gain a complete inventory of all managed and unmanaged assets

Screen Shot 2022 05 04 At 2 44 29 Pm

Beckhoff Showcases Compact Motion Control for Mobile Applications

At Modex 2022, Beckhoff highlighted several motion control products for applications such as automated storage and retrieval systems, autonomous mobile robots, and automated guided vehicles.

Heidenhain CNC controls. Source: Heidenhain

5 Steps to First-Time Right Machining

Heidenhain Corp.’s Gisbert Ledvon explains the connection between first-time right machining and high-mix, low-volume manufacturing of metal parts.

Digital Workflow Tools for Knowledge Transfer Across Operations

J.M. Smucker, Covestro, Pretium use digital workflows for factory, field workers.

Bosch Geek+ Pic

Geek+ Partners with Bosch Rexroth on Intelligent Mobile Robot Systems

Geek+’s MP1000R autonomous mobile robot has been updated with Bosch Rexroth’s Rokit Locator software.

Screen Shot 2022 04 28 At 10 08 42 Am

Intelligent Robotic De-Palletizing System

Designed to address labor shortages in manufacturing and warehouse operations, mixed-case de-palletizing systems, such as those available from Universal Robots and Mujin Corp., can handle complex tasks without the need for advanced programming.