Digitalization

Digitalization represents a transformative leap forward, reshaping market dynamics and social structures. For companies, it presents both opportunities and challenges: exploring new digital business areas while strengthening existing core competencies. Success in this digital era also depends on  engaging employees, customers, and business partners in the transformation journey.

At Sika, the vision for digitalization focuses on four core pillars: revenue, efficiency, relevance, and acceleration. The first pillar centers on generating new revenue streams through digital services and innovative business models. The second focuses on leveraging digital technologies to reduce costs and  enhance productivity in manufacturing. The third pillar ensures market differentiation and customer relevance by seamlessly integrating our offline strengths into digital platforms. Finally, the fourth pillar emphasizes driving growth, fostering adoption, and encouraging collaboration across our decentralized organization.

Sika's Automotive Digital Process Management Team plays a key role in enhancing process efficiency. By continuously measuring and evaluating key performance indicators (KPIs), the team identifies areas for innovation and improvement.

A standout project in our logistics department has focused on digitalizing the incoming goods posting process, which previously relied on multiple manual, paper-based steps. After a detailed evaluation, the team implemented an iPad-based solution that consolidates seven manual steps into a single digital process. This innovation saves over three minutes per receipt booking, resulting in a global annual cost-saving potential of more than 180,000 CHF. With a one-time investment of 169,000 CHF, the return on investment (ROI) is achieved in less than one year within the automotive sector alone.

Building on the success of a similar iPad-based solution introduced in 2023 for our shipping area, we are now piloting the new process in our German plant in Worms. Looking ahead, the approach could be scaled to Sika’s global operations, unlocking further efficiencies.

Innovative, handheld-based digital solutions, like the iPad implementation, have the potential to revolutionize Sika’s processes. By eliminating manual effort, minimizing risks, and enhancing efficiency, Sika is not only optimizing current workflows but also laying the foundation for a more agile and competitive future. Through continued investment in digitalization, Sika is committed to driving growth, sustainability, and value creation across all areas of the business.