Digital stone age and Industry 4.0: The CAD workstation of 1993 and the digital workflow of today are worlds apart.
Franke introduced computer-aided processes later than many large companies – first in administration, then also in design and production. The “digital revolution” was implemented all the more quickly and consistently and soon became an important success factor.
With the installation of the first IT system in the administration department in February 1984, Franke broke new ground. It is hard for younger people today to imagine that until then all transactions were carried out on paper, and communication with customers was by landline telephone, letter and – more recently – fax. The first PC workstations had huge, monochromatic screens and minimal storage capacities. Employees respected, and sometimes feared, the mysterious electronic helpers. The transition “did not go smoothly”, a chronicle later noted, but commented that it represented “a milestone in the company’s history”.
The fact that the new technology sometimes caused sleepless nights is shown by an episode that former Managing Director Gerhard Groz still remembers vividly. When a computer in the payroll department “gave up the ghost” at the same time as one of two back-up systems, the company feared a “huge disaster”. Michael Helbig spent a sleepless night at Gerhard Groz’s until the call they had been waiting for came in the early hours of the morning: The second back-up had been successfully installed, which was “an enormous relief” for the two managing directors.
In the next step, the bearing and guide calculation system was also computerised. CAD replaced the drawing board, NC-controlled machines replaced the classic lathe, and design and manufacturing processes changed radically. The benefits quickly became apparent, particularly through significant time savings and quality improvements in both calculations and production. In 1987, ten NC-controlled machines were already in operation in the metal-cutting production department.
The changes were accompanied by numerous training courses, some of which were conducted by external experts. But the next digital revolution was already casting its shadow in 1998: Franke went online with its first homepage and gradually introduced e-mail communication. One year later, with vision and foresight, the company realised: “There are virtually no limits to the use of these information systems.” //
Today, it is impossible to imagine life without them: The first NC-controlled lathes have long since become programmable multi-axis machining centres that guarantee maximum precision and quality.
