QAD | Redzone Partners With PwC Belgium to Accelerate Manufacturing Transformation
26 Industry 4.0 Barometer, based on 1,206 respondents from industrial companies, places the region’s digitalisation level at 57%, below the global average of 68%. It also found that 37% of DACH manufacturers use AI in production, compared with 71% in China and 57% in the US.
Workforce shortages add to the pressure. According to the ifo Institute’s February 2026 survey, nearly one in five German mechanical engineering companies continued to report a shortage of qualified workers, despite an easing of labour constraints nationally.
For manufacturers struggling to recruit, improving productivity with existing teams is becoming increasingly important. QAD | Redzone positions its frontline software as a way to give employees better visibility into production performance and support continuous improvement.
How the PwC Partnership Will Work
QAD | Redzone provides its Connected Workforce Solution, a digital environment that connects operators, supervisors and plant leaders around production visibility, quality, compliance and continuous improvement. The platform also includes ChampionAI agents designed to support manufacturing workflows.
Under the partnership, QAD | Redzone will contribute its software and frontline transformation methodology, while PwC Belgium will provide manufacturing expertise, operational coaching and change management through its Center of Operational Excellence.
The companies plan to approach customers jointly and deliver projects together, linking improvements on the shop floor with broader business objectives.
Tom Vermeir, manufacturing and operations transformation partner at PwC Belgium, said operational excellence requires both the right digital tools and an organisational culture that supports them.
Although the announcement indicates that the partnership is already gaining traction, neither company disclosed customer names, project numbers or measurable results.
Connecting Frontline Operations With ERP
Redzone focuses on shop-floor execution, while QAD Adaptive ERP manages the transactional processes supporting production, inventory and finance. Connecting the two systems can help manufacturers bring operational data into wider planning and business processes.
At its Champions of Manufacturing event in Chicago in September, QAD | Redzone announced improvements to the integration between the products, alongside new AI agents and plans to incorporate NVIDIA technologies into its platform.
For ERP teams, the value of this integration depends on how effectively frontline information flows into core business systems. Production counts, downtime records and quality checks can support planning, maintenance and costing when the data is accurate and consistently captured.
Data residency is another consideration for European customers. QAD | Redzone says it hosts DACH customer data in AWS’s Frankfurt region and that its arrangements support GDPR compliance and emerging AI data sovereignty requirements.
Manufacturers should still validate the specific hosting, processing and access arrangements against their own regulatory obligations and internal policies.
What This Means for ERP Insiders
1. Connect shop-floor data with ERP processes
Frontline systems can provide ERP teams with more timely production and quality information. Involving ERP stakeholders early in software selection can help improve data consistency, reduce reconciliation work and support more reliable operational reporting.
2. Make change management part of the rollout
Technology alone will not necessarily change how production teams work. The partnership’s combined software and consulting model highlights the importance of training, coaching and clear process ownership. ERP leaders should include these activities in implementation plans rather than treating them as a later phase.
3. Address data residency before procurement
Hosting arrangements and AI data handling are important considerations for manufacturers operating across European markets. ERP teams should establish where data is stored, how it is processed and which parties can access it before finalising vendor selection.
4. Measure operational outcomes, not just deployment progress
Manufacturers should define clear measures for productivity, downtime, quality and workforce adoption before implementation. These indicators can help determine whether frontline software is delivering measurable improvements and supporting the wider ERP investment.
QAD | Redzone’s partnership with PwC Belgium brings together manufacturing software and operational consulting as the company expands across Europe. For ERP leaders, the opportunity lies in connecting frontline execution with core business processes while ensuring that integration, workforce adoption and data governance are addressed from the outset.