Interview with Markus Vinke and Peter Giesekus

18. September 2017

Industry 4.0 is currently one of the major topics in the industry. As a telematics provider, TIS GmbH also sees itself as a technology pioneer, who has played a decisive role in these developments for years.
In an interview, the two TIS CEOs Markus Vinke and Peter Giesekus talked with the industry magazine Vier.Sechs.Drei. about hypes and realistic perspectives in the future, about big data, digitization and networking, and how to master the challenges to face as regional IT vendor in the recruitment of professionals.

Asked for the definition of industry 4.0, Peter Giesekus, managing director and sales manager of TIS GmbH, explains:
"We are actually more in the area of ​​logistics 4.0, which is a component of industry 4.0."

Markus Vinke, the first managing director of TIS GmbH, states: "At the moment, everything is summarized under the term "4.0" and partly "recycled", which has long been traded and lived under other terms such as digitization, networking, information technologies, etc."
TIS GmbH has already begun decades ago to take the first steps towards digitalization, for example by providing parcels with barcodes, mobile scanning and transmitting this information to a central office," emphasizes Markus Vinke, adding: "We are certainly one of the pioneers in this field."

Industry 4.0 only possible with logistics 4.0

The connection in the technological 4.0 evolution between industry 4.0 and logistics 4.0 ist described as the "networking and interlacing of processes, objects, supply chain partners, suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and logistics service providers and customers through information and communication technologies with decentralized decision-making structures" by Peter Giesekus.
"Every vehicle and every transport item sends information to the cloud and can automatically interact. The industry benefits from this transparency of the supply chain and can react in time to shortages due to missed delivery deadlines or production shortages of suppliers, "says Giesekus.

Markus Vinke sees the greatest crossroads between TIS GmbH and "4.0" in the continuing digitalization and automation. From digitized islands within companies to holistic enterprise integration, through the networking of companies and, in the next step, cross-company networking, the progress ultimately also leads to big data evaluations in order to make predictions for the future based on the results. It is rather unimportant whether these developments are marked with the stamp 4.0 or not, because in the end, only what creates added value counts, Markus Vinke summarizes.
In the future, Peter Giesekus sees the focus on the comprehensive integration of various parameters in logistics 4.0 platforms, also partly based on mass data.

Promoting young talents helps prevent lack of specialists

Asked about the challenge of recruiting specialists in and around Bocholt as a regional supplier is something Markus Vinke reacts calmly to:
"We are working closely with the Westfälische Hochschule in Bocholt and are partners of "Innocent Bocholt" in the technology park. That helps a lot to counteract the deficit of specialists in the field of software development."

In addition, TIS GmbH is also actively training staff in the areas of system integration, application development and industrial clerks, thus making its own contribution to tomorrow's specialist staff.

The complete interview with Vier.Sechs.Drei. can be found below.