From the garage to Industry 4.0. Dřevoplast scores thanks to cooperation with CXI TUL
Dřevoplast Ludvík is a family business from the Liberec Region that started out making rakes in a garage. Today, it is one of the technological pioneers in the field of small-scale production. In the Industry 4.0 Award competition, organized by the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic and SAPIE, it was ranked among the TOP 3 best implementations of digitization for 2025. It earned the award for its comprehensive production transformation: process automation, real-time data processing, and the deployment of its own AI chatbot. It collaborated on the digitization with a team of experts from CXI TUL.
The award in the Industry 4.0 Award competition in 2025 for the best implementation in a company went to LARS Chemie, spol. s r.o., with other winners in the TOP 3 being Dřevoplast Ludvík s.r.o. (Aleš Bobek, third from left) and Škoda Auto a.s.
When advisors are lacking, science steps in
Unlike large companies, Dřevoplast didn’t have a team of external consultants. Everything was managed internally – with support from experts at the CXI Technical University of Liberec. Together, they created a digital system that connects the ERP, production lines, and operators using the open OPC UA protocol. Every step of the production process is monitored and evaluated in real time. And the result? Higher efficiency, fewer errors, and full oversight of every single component.
“Digitalization wasn’t a nice-to-have. It was a necessity. We had no visibility into production, constant firefighting was slowing us down, and we were losing our competitiveness. The collaboration with CXI allowed us to turn our ideas into a fully functional system.”
Aleš Bobek, Quality and Digital Transformation Manager, Dřevoplast Ludvík
No sci-fi, just data and meaning
The change also includes the company’s own chatbot, which helps employees set up machines, find documentation, and perform service procedures. This is not about replacing people—quite the opposite. Thanks to digitization, workers have moved to more skilled positions and are now engaged in data analysis and robot control. Data has thus become a normal part of everyday work.
“Dřevoplast Ludvík didn’t follow buzzwords. Everything they implemented was tested on real data. If something didn’t work, they changed it. No show, just pragmatic innovation.”
Jan Kočí, Technical University of Liberec
Digitalization as a mindset
The results? +40% machine performance, −30% energy consumption, −20% inventory, and 0 paper orders on the shop floor. But at Dřevoplast, this isn’t seen as the finish line – it’s just the starting point. By 2026, they plan to rebrand as LUDVIK s.r.o. and continue automation – from internal logistics to data-driven HR processes.
This success proves that even a small company can make the leap into the digital age if it has a vision, the right partner, and the courage to change things that don’t work. It also shows that cooperation between business and research can be the best step toward the future.
