diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-and-publish.yaml b/.github/workflows/build-and-publish.yaml
index f90e467..364e6b9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-and-publish.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-and-publish.yaml
@@ -5,22 +5,56 @@ on:
     tags: ["**"]
     branches: ["**"]
 
+env:
+  java-version: 21
+  gradle-version: 8.4
+  working-directory: "./word-count/code"
+
 jobs:
-  build-and-publish:
-    name: Java Gradle Docker
-    uses: bakdata/ci-templates/.github/workflows/java-gradle-docker.yaml@1.50.1
-    with:
-      java-version: 21
-      docker-publisher: "bakdata"
-      working-directory: "./word-count/code"
-    secrets:
-      docker-username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
-      docker-password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
-      github-token: ${{ secrets.GH_TOKEN }}
-      ossrh-password: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_OSSRH_PASSWORD }}
-      ossrh-username: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_OSSRH_USERNAME }}
-      signing-key-id: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_SIGNING_KEY_ID }}
-      signing-password: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_SIGNING_PASSWORD }}
-      signing-secret-key-ring: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_SIGNING_SECRET_KEY_RING }}
-      sonar-token: ${{ secrets.SONARCLOUD_TOKEN }}
-      sonar-organization: ${{ secrets.SONARCLOUD_ORGANIZATION }}
+#   build-and-test:
+#     name: Build, Test and Assess code quality
+#     uses: bakdata/ci-templates/.github/workflows/java-gradle-base.yaml@1.50.1
+#     with:
+#       java-version: 21
+#       gradle-version: 8.4
+#       gradle-cache: true
+#       gradle-cache-read-only: false
+#       gradle-refresh-dependencies: false
+#       working-directory: "./word-count/code"
+#     secrets:
+#       signing-key-id: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_SIGNING_KEY_ID }}
+#       signing-password: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_SIGNING_PASSWORD }}
+#       signing-secret-key-ring: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_SIGNING_SECRET_KEY_RING }}
+#       sonar-token: ${{ secrets.SONARCLOUD_TOKEN }}
+#       sonar-organization: ${{ secrets.SONARCLOUD_ORGANIZATION }}
+
+  build-jib:
+    name: Build images
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        working-directory: ${{ env.working-directory }}
+    # needs: build-and-test
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Build sentence producer image
+        uses: bakdata/ci-templates/actions/java-gradle-build-jib@1.50.1
+        with:
+          full-image-name: bakdata/kpops-demo-sentence-producer
+          class: com.bakdata.kpops.examples.SentenceProducer
+          java-version: ${{ env.java-version }}
+          gradle-version: ${{ env.gradle-version }}
+          gradle-cache: true
+          gradle-cache-read-only: true
+          gradle-refresh-dependencies: false
+
+      - name: Build word count image
+        uses: bakdata/ci-templates/actions/java-gradle-build-jib@1.50.1
+        with:
+          full-image-name: bakdata/kpops-demo-word-count-app
+          class: com.bakdata.kpops.examples.WordCountApplication
+          java-version: ${{ env.java-version }}
+          gradle-version: ${{ env.gradle-version }}
+          gradle-cache: true
+          gradle-cache-read-only: true
+          gradle-refresh-dependencies: false
diff --git a/word-count/code/build.gradle.kts b/word-count/code/build.gradle.kts
index f8b2d0a..810f844 100644
--- a/word-count/code/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/word-count/code/build.gradle.kts
@@ -4,29 +4,13 @@ plugins {
     java
     idea
     id("net.researchgate.release") version "3.0.2"
-//    id("com.bakdata.sonar") version "1.4.1"
-//    id("com.bakdata.sonatype") version "1.4.1"
+    id("com.bakdata.sonar") version "1.4.1"
+    id("com.bakdata.sonatype") version "1.4.1"
     id("org.hildan.github.changelog") version "2.2.0"
     id("io.freefair.lombok") version "8.11"
     id("com.google.cloud.tools.jib") version "3.4.4"
 }
 
-buildscript {
-    repositories {
-        maven {
-            url = uri("https://s01.oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots")
-        }
-    }
-    dependencies {
-        classpath("com.bakdata.gradle:sonar:1.4.2-SNAPSHOT")
-        classpath("com.bakdata.gradle:sonatype:1.4.2-SNAPSHOT")
-        classpath("com.bakdata.gradle:release:1.4.2-SNAPSHOT")
-    }
-}
-
-apply(plugin = "com.bakdata.sonar")
-apply(plugin = "com.bakdata.sonatype")
-apply(plugin = "com.bakdata.release")
 
 group = "com.bakdata.kpops.examples"
 
diff --git a/word-count/code/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar b/word-count/code/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
index 7f93135..a4b76b9 100644
Binary files a/word-count/code/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar and b/word-count/code/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar differ
diff --git a/word-count/code/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/word-count/code/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index e2847c8..3fa8f86 100644
--- a/word-count/code/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/word-count/code/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.11.1-bin.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.4-bin.zip
 networkTimeout=10000
 validateDistributionUrl=true
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
diff --git a/word-count/code/gradlew b/word-count/code/gradlew
index 1aa94a4..f5feea6 100755
--- a/word-count/code/gradlew
+++ b/word-count/code/gradlew
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 #
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+#
 
 ##############################################################################
 #
@@ -55,7 +57,7 @@
 #       Darwin, MinGW, and NonStop.
 #
 #   (3) This script is generated from the Groovy template
-#       https://github.com/gradle/gradle/blob/HEAD/subprojects/plugins/src/main/resources/org/gradle/api/internal/plugins/unixStartScript.txt
+#       https://github.com/gradle/gradle/blob/HEAD/platforms/jvm/plugins-application/src/main/resources/org/gradle/api/internal/plugins/unixStartScript.txt
 #       within the Gradle project.
 #
 #       You can find Gradle at https://github.com/gradle/gradle/.
@@ -84,7 +86,8 @@ done
 # shellcheck disable=SC2034
 APP_BASE_NAME=${0##*/}
 # Discard cd standard output in case $CDPATH is set (https://github.com/gradle/gradle/issues/25036)
-APP_HOME=$( cd "${APP_HOME:-./}" > /dev/null && pwd -P ) || exit
+APP_HOME=$( cd -P "${APP_HOME:-./}" > /dev/null && printf '%s
+' "$PWD" ) || exit
 
 # Use the maximum available, or set MAX_FD != -1 to use that value.
 MAX_FD=maximum
diff --git a/word-count/code/gradlew.bat b/word-count/code/gradlew.bat
index 6689b85..9b42019 100644
--- a/word-count/code/gradlew.bat
+++ b/word-count/code/gradlew.bat
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 @rem See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 @rem limitations under the License.
 @rem
+@rem SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+@rem
 
 @if "%DEBUG%"=="" @echo off
 @rem ##########################################################################
@@ -43,11 +45,11 @@ set JAVA_EXE=java.exe
 %JAVA_EXE% -version >NUL 2>&1
 if %ERRORLEVEL% equ 0 goto execute
 
-echo.
-echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH.
-echo.
-echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
-echo location of your Java installation.
+echo. 1>&2
+echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH. 1>&2
+echo. 1>&2
+echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the 1>&2
+echo location of your Java installation. 1>&2
 
 goto fail
 
@@ -57,11 +59,11 @@ set JAVA_EXE=%JAVA_HOME%/bin/java.exe
 
 if exist "%JAVA_EXE%" goto execute
 
-echo.
-echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is set to an invalid directory: %JAVA_HOME%
-echo.
-echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
-echo location of your Java installation.
+echo. 1>&2
+echo ERROR: JAVA_HOME is set to an invalid directory: %JAVA_HOME% 1>&2
+echo. 1>&2
+echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the 1>&2
+echo location of your Java installation. 1>&2
 
 goto fail