Background – Companies have to constantly improve and adapt to the dynamically changing conditions, in order to remain competitive. This implies a fundamental change in the organization and the mindset of employees, as well as a continuous improvement of internal processes, in both direct and indirect areas. Especially in a highly automated production, thins leads to a new level of complexity, that adds to the difficulty to further improve existing processes.

Purpose –. This paper gives insights into the discussion of the future role of process improvement in highly automated production and the relevance of new digital technologies to further enhance productivity.

Methodology/Approach – In order to address the research question, virtual focus groups have been chosen as a qualitative approach. Seven executives of German large-scale enterprises assessed the future role of process improvements in a highly automated manufacturing setting.

Findings – Results show that the potential for process improvements in manufacturing is still high. While the integration of continuous process improvement aims for incremental improvements, new technologies open up opportunities to address existing inefficiencies, unscheduled downtimes and excessive rework by addressing hitherto unsolved problems.