Industry 4.0

Autonomously working machines, robots that assist assembly processes or even replace people, drones and driverless vehicles which provide transportation of goods from the place of production to the customer: Industry 4.0 and 3D printing will revolutionise manufacturing processes as we know them today and will create new value-added chains.

Products will no longer be manufactured in series, but according to individual wishes and they will be manufactured by 3D printers or ordered autonomously on the basis of comprehensive collection of data without human interaction. It is not only the manufacturing processes that are changing, but also the requirements concerning correct instruction and product monitoring.

Whether it is about

• networking within one's own production plant;
• using robots as means of work and drones or so-called smart shuttles as means of transportation;
• worldwide and permanent tracking of one's own products;
• manufacturing of products according to individual customer requirements; 
• taking over of services, monitoring and decision-making processes, e.g. by the manufacturer in the further value-added chain;
• using 3D printers in the industry and by private customers; 

all these examples may be connected with considerable financial risks for the manufacturers and customers of these products as well as for their insurers.
 
Thus, the question must be answered who will bear the development risk in future, when products are going to be manufactured no longer in series but with 3D printers instead. It also needs to be clarified how and to whom "autonomous" orders as well as the behaviour of robots and drones will be attributed. At the same time, liability insurances ought to cover these potential liability risks in the comprehensive way.

As reliable partner of the insurance industry, BLD has been intensively working on many aspects of Industry 4.0 and 3D printing from the beginning, thereby not only building up its own legal and technical expertise but also establishing numerous contacts with specialised experts, fraud experts, PR-consultants and other service providers.

We advise insurers in the assessment of liability risks and regularly give immediate legal support regarding the development and market launch of new technologies. Together with a product manufacturer, his broker, his insurer and possibly his contracting partner we analyse the legal implications with regard to liability of a new products or services.. We support during contract design in order to guarantee an adequate division of the liability risks and also advise on the composition of the insurance programme that takes into account these liability risks. It goes without saying that we advise and represent our clients in the defence against liability and coverage claims in and out of court.
 
For cross-border cases we use our international alliance Legalign Global, of which we are a founding member.

We especially advise on

• the duties of product manufacturers, their dealers or carriers and on the current discussion about new or changed liability facts; 
• the contractual design of supply relationships that shall for instance reflect autonomous orders;
• product recalls: if or rather how these are to be handled in times of permanent traceability of products;
• chances and risks, above all with regard to data protection, that come along with data collection and transfer in Industry 4.0;
• the design of insurance coverage against the loss of data and business secrets or operational failures, especially by cyber or failure coverages, additional modules and data protection policies etc.
• all questions of (insurance) product design and development, particularly on especially adapted product liability insurances, IT-liability, transport and fidelity insurances.