3 questions for Martin Ruskowski

Prof Dr-Ing Martin Ruskowski is Chairman of the Executive Board of SmartFactory Kaiserslautern (SFKL), Chair of Machine Tools and Control Systems at RPTU Kaiserslautern, and Scientific Director of the ‘Innovative Factory Systems’ (IFS) research department at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).

Bild: © Ruskowski
Munich, 06 February 2025

Unfortunately, this is actually the rule rather than the exception in research. This is precisely why we are organised as an association within the SFKL, to ensure that we develop and work on things that are of real benefit to companies. Our researchers work in joint working groups with colleagues from industry so that questions can be formulated and answered collaboratively. That is precisely our DNA: to develop things that have a real benefit on the shop floor.
However, in pure research projects, we observe a gap between research findings and their implementation in companies. There is a need to bridge this gap, as companies are often not prepared to apply the results directly. The German mechanical engineering sector, in particular, has a considerable inertia that should not be underestimated, which I know only too well from my industrial past. That’s why the biggest problem is that research is sometimes too fast and industry can’t keep up. 

We do not experience any reservations about the automation of processes by SMEs, rather the opposite is the case. However, we do observe a hesitancy when it comes to investments. Many process improvements cannot be immediately quantified with KPIs, so the ROI is a promise for tomorrow, meaning that companies have costs now that will only be amortised in 5 – 10 years. Owner-managed family businesses certainly plan within these timeframes because they aim to exist in the long term. In contrast, with large corporations we see that their planning is focused solely on short-term payouts. This is also because top management has short-term, performance-based contracts and is therefore forced to think in the short term. We therefore often see a refusal to invest, which ultimately ends up as a refusal to invest in the future. Small companies, on the other hand, usually recognise the need to invest, but are sometimes unable to do so due to the economic situation because they have to make sure they can make it through the current year.

Without people, there can be no further development. This is a decades-old realisation that Toyota postulated a long time ago. Our goal is the collaboration of automation – especially in the form of industrial robots – and humans to work together as equals. I like to refer to the robot as a “colleague.” We know that AI methods or automation processes can and must be continuously improved by humans, because a factory without humans would remain stagnant forever and would quickly become obsolete. However, there are numerous processes, particularly in the planning and control of production, that still involve a lot of manual labour today and where automated processes and the use of AI methods can relieve the burden on humans. This is becoming increasingly important, especially against the backdrop of demographic trends. In the case of automated decision-making processes, we are in favour of transparency in the basis for decision-making so that humans can always be the final decision-making authority. We must not leave ourselves defencelessly at the mercy of the systems.