Autodesk // Franken-Schotter GmbH & Co. KG

So, the natural stone industry has changed significantly over the last 20 years, moving away from manually operated and manually controlled machines toward CNC-controlled machines. The decision for robotics was driven by economic reasons, as robots can achieve high output with relatively little personnel.

Our communication with customers is naturally very much shaped by digitalization. We can now do visualizations, renderings, and simulations digitally that we previously had to handle in other ways. Since we've had to move into the digital world, we've reduced travel costs and also shortened project lead times until a decision is made on which stone to use. When we create a digital mockup, we then also generate a real mockup where the customer can select individual stones for their project right here at our facility.

The stone industry is not very easy, and in the stone industry it is actually very important, in order to survive and achieve reasonably decent results, to have extensive access to raw materials and to be able to process the products all the way to the end.

The biggest benefit for us regarding BIM comes from the diverse data that customers provide us with — very varied, like a colorful bouquet containing different rings and sometimes missing ones. For Franken-Schotter, it is important that we create a unified platform, and BIM helps us significantly in running structured and standardized processes through the various departments within the company.

This can be supported both by experienced employees and by tech-savvy and IT-afficient employees who embrace this, enabling us to produce a very good product in the digital world.

We are able to process waste down to the very last crumb, and that is not something every company can do.

My work itself is fun. I believe if work isn't fun, you have to find something else, because you have to do it for many, many years of your life.