Siemens to showcase Digital Enterprise at Hannover Messe

At the Hannover Messe 2017, Siemens will be demonstrating how industrial companies of all sizes can benefit from the digital transformation. The central focus of the 3500-square-metre booth in Hall 9 will be on the company’s further extended portfolio for the achievement of end-to-end digitalisation, known as the ‘Digital Enterprise’.

“Only companies who digitalise their processes comprehensively will remain competitive,” explained Jan Mrosik, CEO of the Digital Factory Division, who recently visited Australia.

At the booth, an array of examples from practice will allow visitors to experience applications and innovations demonstrating the competitive benefits to be gained by merging the real and the virtual worlds. These include greater flexibility, efficiency and quality as well as a reduced time to market. The examples on show range from smart energy management systems through customised food and pharmaceutical production to industrial-scale additive manufacturing based on innovative automation and drive technology. Siemens is also driving forward the expansion of its cloud-based, open IoT operating system MindSphere with the addition of new partnerships, interfaces and apps.

The rapidly changing requirements of consumers are placing manufacturers under increasing pressure to produce customised products at short notice while assuring a consistently optimised standard of quality. The key to addressing all these demands is digitalisation, which allows producers to simulate, test and optimise products, production processes and plants within a completely virtual environment on the basis of a ‘digital twin’. In this way, not only can the manufacturing and process industries significantly enhance their innovation speed and productivity, but they can also define their own new business models. Machine and plant builders can also reap the benefits of this development and pass them on to their own customers.

To support companies undergoing the digital transformation, Siemens is extending its portfolio for the Digital Enterprise across the four cornerstones of industrial software and automation, industrial communication, industrial security and industrial services.

Integrated portfolio for the Digital Enterprise

Integration of product lifecycle management (PLM), manufacturing operations management (MOM) and totally integrated automation (TIA) into the shared collaboration platform Teamcenter enables the seamless flow of data between every step of the value chain: from product design through production planning, engineering and production to servicing — and back. “We provide support for our customers from the manufacturing industry in the form of the Digital Enterprise Suite, our unique integrated portfolio comprising software-based systems and automation components. We coordinate entry into the world of digitalisation closely in line with the requirements of each individual company, and together we develop a solution that precisely meets those requirements,” said Mrosik.

Manufacturers can substantially enhance the performance and availability of their plants still further with a minimum of effort: by connecting to MindSphere, huge quantities of data can be quickly and efficiently evaluated and weak spots identified. Through new interfaces, apps and partnerships with companies such as BluVision as well as the usage of the cloud infrastructure and services from Amazon Web Services, Siemens is driving forward the expansion of the ecosystem surrounding MindSphere. Visitors to the Siemens booth will have the chance to experience this in a unique atmosphere as they enter the ‘MindSphere Lounge’. The newly disclosed northbound API allows more rapid integration of Siemens MindApps as well as partner apps. There will be an impressive array of new apps on show at the Siemens booth, alongside innovative new features for the existing apps Fleet Manager and Visual Analyzer. To simplify the connection of third-party assets to MindCloud, a southbound API enabling additional protocols is currently in the preparation stage.

To learn more about Siemens’ activities at Hannover Messe 2017, visit www.siemens.com/hannovermesse or www.siemens.com/press/hm17.