What’s it about?
Microsoft and management consulting firm Roland Berger have presented the winners of the Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award 2026. The award recognizes companies that integrate artificial intelligence into their manufacturing processes in a particularly innovative way. This year’s winners include Krones as the overall winner, tesa in the sustainability category, and Erbe Elektromedizin as best mid-sized company.
The award highlights the growing importance of digital technologies for efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness in modern industry. In addition to the main prizes, further companies were honored for innovative solutions in the areas of automation, data integration, and digital product passports.
Background & Context
Krones impressed the jury with the use of digital twins that enable real-time optimization of production processes. This technology significantly shortens simulation times and increases the adaptability of manufacturing processes, demonstrating how virtual replicas of physical systems can drive efficiency gains.
Sustainability award winner tesa relies on an AI platform that optimizes energy consumption in production. The system forecasts energy flows and controls production parameters autonomously, with the company targeting climate-neutral production by 2030. Erbe Elektromedizin uses the AI-powered platform EvidenceStream to automate the analysis of clinical data, increasing efficiency in the approval process for medical products.
Additional awards went to AUMOVIO for an internally developed AI hub with over 1,500 specialized AI agents, to Tetra Pak for the modular Factory OS for optimizing food production, and to Kongsberg and Yara for the Industrial Work Surface, which consolidates plant data and documents in a user-friendly interface. EssilorLuxottica was honored for a digital product passport that improves transparency and traceability in the supply chain.
What does this mean?
- The award demonstrates that AI integration in manufacturing has moved beyond pilot projects to deliver measurable results in practice
- Digital twins and AI-powered energy optimization are becoming key technologies for sustainable production in Europe
- Mid-sized companies can also compete internationally and assume innovation leadership with targeted AI solutions
- The range of awarded solutions shows that successful digitalization is possible across sectors — from mechanical engineering to medical devices to consumer goods
- The combination of automation, data analysis, and operational excellence is becoming the decisive competitive factor in global manufacturing
Sources
Was Europas Digitalisierungs-Champions auszeichnet (Computerwoche)
The winners of the Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award 2026 (Roland Berger)
Pioneering industrial solutions: Winners of the 2026 Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award (Microsoft News)
Pioneering industrial solutions honored together with Roland Berger (MyNewsDesk)
This article was created with AI and is based on the sources cited above as well as the training data of the language model.
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