Siemens has hailed the arrival of the digital enterprise as an industrial movement in full swing, with ready for slicker processes. The German manufacturing giant said at Hannover Messe the industrial IoT (IIoT) market is alive and kicking, and that companies of any size are now in position to achieve real competitive advantages from digital change.
Klaus Helmrich, member of the managing board at Siemens, said: “With our digital enterprise offerings, our customers are already achieving greater flexibility, shorter times to market, higher efficiency and better quality – and they’re accomplishing this during ongoing operations. Our customers attest to the benefits and added value that the Siemens Digital Enterprise offers for the discrete manufacturing and process industries.”
At 3,500 square metres, the company’s stand in Hannover, emblazoned with the signage, ‘digital enterprise – implement now’, is one of the biggest in show. Siemens announced an expanded range of Industry 4.0 solutions, affording greater flexibility of design, processes and structures. The ‘big beasts’ in its IIoT portfolio include solutions for digital twins, used to simulate aspects of manufacturing and supply, and its cloud-based IoT platform MindSphere.
Siemens talked up its MindSphere club, MindSphere World, with 16 new members, for customers and partners to foster collaboration and innovation in the burgeoning IIoT market. “Our MindSphere IoT operating system provides access to new dimensions of connectivity and data analysis,” said Helmrich.
At its booth, the company is presenting MindSphere applications from third parties, and showing the work of start-ups working to push “creative approaches for new customer solutions and business models.” It has also introduced a new platform for edge computing, Siemens Industrial Edge, which provides data processing at machine level, including for descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive analysis.
Siemens claimed it closes the gap between local data processing and cloud-based data processing. Applications for data processing, data visualisation via web-servers and data transfer to cloud or IT infrastructures are available, as is support for cloud transfer within the MindSphere platform, and Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) in due course.
Last week, ABB and HPE launched a new micro-modular data centre to handle data processing at the network edge in smart factory environments.
Separately, Siemens has unveiled new plant and network security mechanisms for industrial operations, and introduced an Industry 4.0 marketplace for additive manufacturing, or industrial ‘3D printing’, called the Siemens Additive Manufacturing Network, where customers and suppliers can forge relationships.
At its booth in Hannover, Siemens is showcasing its work with both the automotive and aerospace industries. It is also demonstrating its work with paint company Dulux to create the “first digital paint factory,” presenting a virtual digital-twin model of a real paint plant, which affords flexibility to react to rapidly changing market requirements, such as colour trends and small-batch requests.
Smart factory showcases have been in abundance at Hannover Messe this week, with major announcements from Deutsche Telekom, Bosch and ABB.
