32nd FVI Expert Breakfast

The pulse of the industry: 4 insights from maintenance Munich & the Maintenance Award

What really moves maintenance? At maintenance Munich, it became clear that the days of theoretical play are over. The market demands pragmatic solutions that work immediately. In our FVI Expert Breakfast, we analyzed the impressions of the trade fair – and took a look at the exciting finale of the Maintenance Award.

In the 32nd episode, Marcel Hahn and Jens Reißenweber reported from the aisles of the trade fair. What stood out: Despite the AI hype, studies show that around 40% of companies still work with pen and paper. The gap between "visionaries on stage" and "reality in the hall" is large. But this is exactly where the opportunities lie.

Here are the four most important insights from the trade fair and what they mean for your strategy:

1. The Maintenance Award: Knowledge is the new gold

The highlight of the trade fair was the finale of the Maintenance Award. That the first place went to Bayer AG (with a project on knowledge management) is a clear signal: The biggest pain in the industry is the loss of experiential knowledge due to demographic change.

We are proud that our customer Axalta Coating Systems made it to the top 7 finalists with ADAM. Christian Demmin (Axalta) impressively demonstrated on stage how a global player mobilizes and digitizes its maintenance with ADAM. Competing in this high-caliber environment with corporate solutions confirms: ADAM is "Enterprise-Ready" and one of the most innovative platforms in the German-speaking region. It also shows: Those who do not invest in digital knowledge preservation today will lose their ability to act tomorrow.

2. Retrofit is the new investing

A dominant topic in the discussions was the investment backlog. The consensus: "Germany is built." There are fewer budgets for new constructions (Greenfield), so the money flows into existing structures (Brownfield). Retrofit – the modernization of old plants – is the mega-trend. Companies are desperately searching for ways to make 30-year-old machines digitally fit instead of scrapping them. Our answer: ADAM was developed precisely for this. As a "digital resume," ADAM accompanies your existing plants through the modernization process and ensures that even old machines can be maintained transparently and data-supported.

3. The end of "IT monsters": SaaS prevails

The patience for months-long, tedious IT implementation projects is over. Customers no longer want to write requirement specifications, they want results. The trend is massively towards SaaS (Software as a Service). The expectation is clear: Log in, set up assets, get started. This trend confirms our approach with ADAM: No complex server installation, but an immediately available cloud solution that can be productive in a few days even without a large IT department.

4. Integration instead of islands

Stand-alone solutions are dying out. A maintenance app that doesn't communicate with purchasing or inventory only creates new data silos. Visitors to the trade fair specifically asked about interfaces (APIs). The future belongs to open ecosystems where maintenance software communicates seamlessly with ERP and sensor technology.

Conclusion: The industry is ready for ADAM

Maintenance Munich has shown: The market is ready, but it no longer wants experiments. It wants solutions that bridge the gap between high-tech (AI) and the "paper reality" on the shop floor.

With the final placement in the Maintenance Award, we have proven that we are at the forefront technologically. But more importantly, we solve the most pressing problems: securing knowledge, integrating old plants, and simplifying processes. Do you want to see how Axalta's finalist solution can work in your company?