iFAKT GmbH

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Disclosure: M365.FM host Mirko Peters works at iFAKT GmbH. This page describes the company factually; paid partnerships and links are labelled as advertising.

Organization

Stuttgart-based consulting company and software specialist for Industry 4.0, founded in 2001, that helps manufacturers plan and optimize production and logistics processes; developer of the Polaris software.

Profile on M365.FM (maintained by the person)

Description

iFAKT GmbH is an independent consulting company and software specialist for Industry 4.0 and the smart factory, based at Curiestr. 2, 70563 Stuttgart, Germany. The company was founded in 2001 and describes itself as having more than 25 years of experience in planning production and logistics processes and in using resources such as machines, staff and material more efficiently. It is managed by Jörg Drees and registered at the Stuttgart local court (Amtsgericht Stuttgart, HRB 22661).

Its main product is Polaris (also Polaris IMS), which iFAKT presents as "AI + Digital Twin for Production". Polaris combines ERP data with a digital twin of manufacturing to optimize schedules, reveal bottlenecks and improve on-time delivery. It is made up of seven modules: Polaris VSM for data-based value stream mapping, Polaris BSM for business swimlane modelling, Polaris Designer for a product-process-resource (PPR) knowledge graph, Polaris Simulator for virtual tests of the production system, Polaris Optimizer for constraint-based production plans, Polaris Operator for bringing plans to the shop floor and Polaris Analyzer for KPI dashboards that compare plan and actual.

iFAKT works mainly with manufacturers in aerospace and aviation, automotive and mobility, mechanical engineering and automation, and energy and infrastructure. References named by iFAKT on its website include Airbus, Silhouette, Everllance, Magna, Vitesco, ZF, Junghans, Karl Dungs, Pfannenberg, Weidmüller, GRASS, MAN Energy, Siemens Energy and Liebherr. Polaris VSM and Polaris BSM are listed by iFAKT GmbH as SaaS offers in the Microsoft Marketplace (AppSource); Polaris VSM starts at USD 4 per user per month (as of November 2026). In its research area (Innovation R&T), iFAKT takes part in publicly funded research projects with research institutions on production optimization, resilience, sustainability, AI and digital twins.

On M365.FM, the iFAKT series covers manufacturing IT on Microsoft platforms, for example OT-IT convergence on Azure, machine data quality before Power BI, industrial data platforms for mid-sized manufacturers, quality nonconformance workflows with Power Platform, traceability and genealogy, FinOps for manufacturing IT and predictive maintenance.

Episodes about iFAKT GmbH

Related topics in brief

• Industry 4.0 · Related to · Concept
  The networked, data-driven digitalization of industrial production, in which machines, products, software and people exchange data in real time; often called the smart factory or the fourth industrial revolution.
• Digital twin · Related to · Concept
  A maintained digital representation of a physical resource, its relationships and its operating conditions, kept up to date from observations.
• Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) · Related to · Concept
  Planning software that calculates a feasible production schedule from capacity, calendars, material, routing rules and priorities.
• Value stream mapping · Related to · Concept
  A lean method for visualizing how material, information and decisions flow through a product family, including process steps, queues and handoffs.
• Factory simulation · Related to · Concept
  A controlled model of how work moves through part of a factory, using current operating rules, resources, orders and normal variation, so a proposed change such as an extra shift, new machine or smaller buffer can be tested before it is made.
• Lars Schubert · Related to · Person
  Lars Schubert is a co-founder of iFAKT GmbH in Stuttgart and co-author of the article "Dynamische Simulation von Wertströmen" (ZWF, 2014), in which he is named as founder and managing director of the company.
• iFAKT Polaris · Products and works · Product
  Production software from iFAKT GmbH that combines ERP data with a digital twin of manufacturing and AI to optimize production schedules, reveal bottlenecks and improve on-time delivery.
• Polaris VSM · Products and works · Product
  Module of iFAKT Polaris for data-based value stream mapping that models material and information flows collaboratively and makes waste and bottlenecks visible.
• Polaris BSM · Products and works · Product
  Module of iFAKT Polaris for business swimlane modelling that documents business processes together with the responsibilities of the roles involved.
• Polaris Designer · Products and works · Product
  Module of iFAKT Polaris that builds a product-process-resource (PPR) knowledge graph as the single source of truth for products, process steps and resources.
• Polaris Simulator · Products and works · Product
  Module of iFAKT Polaris that tests the production system virtually, for example capacity, staffing and buffer scenarios, and reveals bottlenecks before changes are made.
• Polaris Optimizer · Products and works · Product
  Module of iFAKT Polaris that automatically generates optimized production plans under constraints such as resources, shifts, zones, qualifications and capacities.
• Polaris Operator · Products and works · Product
  Module of iFAKT Polaris that brings production plans to the shop floor as time-based tasks and feeds progress back to planning in real time.
• Polaris Analyzer · Products and works · Product
  Module of iFAKT Polaris with KPI dashboards across all modules that compare planned and actual values in production.

Experts and companies for this topic

• Mirko Peters · Microsoft MVP

Maintained by Mirko Peters (Microsoft MVP) · Last updated: 2026-11-07