Dark. Cold. A factory without order, old and analog. Machines that hum and work, but do not communicate with each other.
In the midst of them is a small robot with scratches and quirks, who has been in this factory much longer than anyone else and does his best every day to find his way in this world of chaos.
His name is Edgy. A name that stands for change, for new beginnings. For not always going with the flow, but also for tackling things and making changes.
But Edgy can’t do that, because the old, analog factory doesn’t want to function properly. It has to, though, because it produces toys for children and Christmas is coming soon – but that’s not going to happen this time if things continue like this.
Edgy can no longer find his way around the factory because there is no central system. Work instructions are lying around everywhere on paper, crumpled and disordered. Edgy runs – no, he drives, because Edgy is a square robot with big eyes and small wheels – through the factory and notices that some of his robot friends are doing the same thing, but no one notices. Edgy doesn’t even understand some of the machines around him because they don’t speak his language.
The factory is running, but it’s not working properly. Edgy doesn’t know what his job is, and without a central system, the toys will never be ready for Christmas. Edgy thinks: That’s sad. But who could help?
Edgy often feels overlooked. No one paid any attention to him, and his sensors flickered in the dark. I’m here, but no one understands me, thinks Edgy, and his big robot eyes look sad. Don’t robots have Christmas wishes too?
One night, Edgy suddenly hears a voice coming from the factory loudspeakers. It is not human, but comes from a program.
Coldly and precisely, it says: “Analysis complete. Objects with an efficiency rating below 0.15 will be deactivated. Initiator: PR1MUS.”
PR1MUS! Edgy realizes that this is a new program designed to get the factory up and running again. But it is sorting out the old machines, wanting to destroy them and replace them with new, more efficient ones. This is not what Edgy wanted, so that the children’s toys could be finished in time.
He listens to PR1MUS reading out the names of all the robots he can no longer use, and his circuits become restless.
“Edgy – Obsolete. Not compatible.” Edgy is also listed!
Panicking and trembling, he flees to an old technical room to hide. “I’m more than just a number…” whispers Edgy.
He doesn’t want to be destroyed. He wants to help get the factory up and running. He wants to prove to PR1MUS that he is a better robot, capable of more than this program.
Edgy waits in the dark, hearing the machines suddenly stop whirring as they are shut down and cease to exist. Fear courses through Edgy’s circuits when the door to the equipment room suddenly opens. Light floods in, and Edgy recoils.
A human stands there in front of him.
No one had been in the factory for so long. It seemed like an eternity.
The man is wearing a black suit with a yellow patch on the lapel. Edgy tries to decipher the writing on it, but the man approaches him, so Edgy can no longer concentrate on the lettering.
“I don’t want to be shut down!” Edgy’s robot voice sounds creaky—he hasn’t used it in ages.
The man looks at him, calm and focused. “You don’t have to be. Come here.”
Edgy watches as the man places a shiny cube on the floor and beckons him over.
Edgy moves toward the man and stops in front of him.
“What is that?” asks Edgy.
The human looks at Edgy and smiles. “I’m connecting you. Then you’ll be part of a whole.”
“Will the factory work properly then? Will the children’s gifts be produced? Will PR1MUS disappear again?”
The man nods and Edgy approaches the cube, which begins to pulsate. Yellow and black lines run across the surface. Edgy is excited as the cable is connected to him. At first he feels nothing, and then… everything.
The big picture. The entire factory spreads out before Edgy’s inner eye – no, in his circuits. He can feel everything, and everything is in flux. Connected.
But suddenly he hears PR1MUS’ voice again and sees in the data how the program is trying to take control. Everything is in chaos; the robots can no longer work properly. They are doomed to stand still because PR1MUS can only shut them down but cannot understand them – unlike Edgy.
Edgy feels a connection deep within himself that PR1MUS does not know. He knows that all the robots in the factory do not need to be shut down, but renewed. That a system is needed to connect them. And now he has all the information in his circuits to banish PR1MUS from the factory.
With a trembling voice, he says: “Edge.One – emergency connection detected. Activation authorized. PR1MUS shut down, new system activated.”
A jolt runs through the systems. Data streams light up, machines start running again.
And in the midst of it all stands Edgy – small, but stronger than the big PR1MUS. The program that can only destroy is defeated by the little robot that renews.
Edgy now understands all the languages of the other robots, everything is connected, not a single process has to be done on paper anymore, all workflows are connected through a central system.
All shifts that the robots take on are now linked through the digital shift book.
The quality of the products is automatically checked by quality management. Data is analyzed, dashboards are updated, fewer mistakes are made.
All the robots around Edgy come to life and start their work, now efficient and interconnected. None of them work alone anymore; silos are breaking down. Production of the toys, the gifts for the children for Christmas, begins. The darkness in the factory disappears, and Edgy feels seen for the first time.
All the data he provides is being used. He has a purpose, his components are finally working properly again. The production data for the toys flows through Edgy’s system in real time, allowing him to influence what is produced and when.
I can actively help, thinks Edgy as he drives through the factory. He sees a robot frantically searching for a test report but unable to find it. But Edgy can find it now, because all the systems are connected within him. He calls up the digital document management system and presents the document in seconds. He measures the success of production and knows how effective everything is.
Edgy stands there, satisfied, in the middle of the factory, which is no longer cold and silent, no longer sinking into chaos. He watches as the gifts are delivered to the stores with the help of the supplier management system. He sees how the factory is growing because everything is connected.
Edgy turns to the person who is smiling at him.
“You saved Christmas and the factory, and you drove PR1MUS away,” says Edgy cheerfully. “Thank you!”
But the man shakes his head and stands up. He walks over to Edgy and kneels down in front of him. “No, it was you, Edgy. Welcome to Germanedge’s digital factory, where everything is in flux.”
“Germanedge?” asks Edgy with big, curious eyes.
“Exactly, you are part of this digital factory, ready to usher in the future of production. And your new name is Edge.One.”
Edgy looks at the man with wide eyes and buzzes happily.
Yes, Edgy thinks, from now on I am Edge.One, the system that holds everything together, and through me this factory will always function and no child will ever have to go without their Christmas present again.
And so Edgy, the little robot, became the heart of the Digital Factory.
