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In Germany Quality Management awards and thus self‐assessment are well known and popular – at least amongst quality management professionals. About 2000 companies have carried out self‐assessment using the EFQM Model as a framework (DGQ, 2005). This is at least approximately the number of participants in German regional and national quality awards. Since 1992, with the first call for the national Ludwig‐Erhard‐Preis, about 1953 companies have taken part in a quality award, see figure (1). The number of participants varies from state to state. This difference may be caused by the application format: There are many applicants where the application is done by the means of a questionnaire, as it is the case of Bavaria (910), Thuringia (402), Northrhein‐Westphalia (267) and Saxony‐Anhalt (60). Fewer applications were received in Berlin‐Brandenburg (65), Saxony (84), Schleswig‐Holstein (40), and with the national quality award (125), where a demanding application brochure is needed. Number of participants and type of application format in quality awards of different federal states of Germany. Information on number of participants was collected from quality award offices.

In Germany Quality Management awards and thus self‐assessment are well known and popular‐at least amongst quality management professionals. About 2000 companies have carried out self‐assessment using the EFQM Model as a framework (DGQ, 2005). This is at least approximately the number of participants in German regional and national quality awards. Since 1992, with the first call for the national Ludwig‐Erhard‐Preis, about 1953 companies have taken part in a quality award, see figure (1). The number of participants varies from state to state. This difference may be caused by the application format: There are many applicants where the application is done by the means of a questionnaire, as it is the case of Bavaria (910), Thuringia (402), Northrhein‐Westphalia (267) and Saxony‐Anhalt (60). Fewer applications were received in Berlin‐Brandenburg (65), Saxony (84), Schleswig‐ Holstein (40), and with the national quality award (125), where a demanding application brochure is needed. Figure 1. Number of participants and type of application format in quality awards of different federal states of Germany. Information on number of participants was collected from quality award offices.

The purpose of this study intends to make a characterization of a shop floor management (SFM) system in the context of smart manufacturing, through smart technologies and digital shop floor (DSF) features.

To attain the paper objective, a mixed method methodology was used. In the first stage, a theoretical background was carried out, to provide a comprehensive understanding on SFM system in a smart manufacturing perspective. Next, a case study within a survey was developed. The case study was introduced to characterize a SFM system, while the survey was made to understand the level of influence of smart manufacturing technologies and of DSF features on SFM. In total, 17 experts responded to the survey.

Data analytics is the smart manufacturing technology that influences more the SFM system and its components and the cyber security technology does not influence it at all. The problem solving (PS) is the SFM component more influenced by the smart manufacturing technologies. Also, the use of real-time digital visualization tools is considered the most influential DSF feature for the SFM components and the data security protocols is the least influential one. The four SFM components more influenced by the DSF features are key performance indicator tracking, PS, work standardization and continuous improvement.

The study was applied in one multinational company from the automotive sector.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is one of the first to try to characterize the SFM system on smart manufacturing considering smart technologies and DSF features.