BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Digital B2B platform looks to solve
automation puzzle
We speak to Dirk Engelbrecht, who is bringing the automation value chain together through his online platform
S
tart-up Andugo wants its Go2Automation site to be the next online business-to-business (B2B)
platform for manufacturing automation. Te firm has teamed up with the VDMA
Robotics and Automation Association to strengthen the portal, and to offer end users access to automation knowledge and services. Te idea is to provide a source for automation expertise, a repository that brings together the various equipment suppliers, integrators and end users, along with other parts of the value chain, to make the automation of a manufacturing process more effective. Dirk Engelbrecht, chief executive of
Andugo, who launched the site in May 2020, describes Go2Automation as ‘a bit like a digital trade fair combined with aspects of a social media site’, enhanced by data-driven services. ‘Te platform economy will affect the way we do business in B2B,’ he says. ‘In B2C it does already, no doubt. In B2B, specifically in the complex sector of manufacturing, we have so many puzzle pieces [that need to come together during an automation project]. Tis is a big opportunity to shape the platform economy.’ Engelbrecht is a mechanical engineer
who worked for Kuka for eight-and-a-half years, where he was responsible for digital sales and aspects related to the customer portal and e-commerce. He continues: ‘When a customer is
searching for robotics – when they might not even know they could benefit from robotics – where do they go? Tey go to Google, LinkedIn, YouTube, but none of those algorithms bring you to the right party, they bring you to those companies that have the best SEO and LinkedIn campaigns, which is also dependent on budget. Tis is a mismatch from my perspective for
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getting to the technically perfect solution.’ Go2Automation started as a prototype
with five partners in May 2020; it now has exceeded 250 partners, including Chinese robot suppliers, Portuguese and American integrators and Turkish end customers. It lists and connects integrators, component suppliers, software experts, associations and institutes like universities. It also has input from insurance providers like Allianz. In terms of machine vision expertise,
Engelbrecht says most is related to bin picking at the moment. ‘Vision technology is highly complex, so there is a big hurdle to evaluate whether vision could be suitable for a use case. We want to make such complicated solutions more accessible...
‘We want to reduce the hurdle by connecting people with the right experts’
We want to reduce the hurdle by connecting people with the right experts.’ He says such a B2B portal has to focus on the company rather than the individual, as is the case with LinkedIn. Go2Automation will provide the right context to evaluate any automation project and be a site to discuss potential solutions, technologies and business partnerships. VDMA Robotics and Automation believes
its partnership with Go2Automation is an important milestone in actively shaping the platform economy in the B2B sector. Patrick Schwarzkopf, managing director of VDMA Robotics and Automation, said in a statement: ‘We take companies by the hand on their way to the smart production of the future. Moreover, we offer small and medium-sized firms a direct way to benefit from the opportunities of automation – and accompany them step by step. Te automation specialists and technology suppliers registered at Go2Automation are at the top of their field in both Germany and internationally.’ Tus far, Engelbrecht says Go2Automation
has focused mainly on the supplier side and building up a database of manufacturing applications, automation equipment and related services. It’s adding knowledge too with the VDMA collaboration. With this know-how in place, end users from various industries and from different levels of automation will find a source for optimising their manufacturing processes. Engelbrecht says the next steps are to
improve awareness in the market and evolve the collaboration aspect among automation suppliers. He also wants to involve end- users – particularly SMEs – to request information relating to specific automation projects and feasibility studies. ‘Te next step is to empower users to be quicker through the project phases,’ he says, thereby reducing the time it takes to automate manufacturing processes. O
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