Industry faces a threefold challenge. The war against Ukraine exposed its dependence on fossil fuels. Supply chains are coming under renewed pressure from lockdowns in Asia. All of this happens with the backdrop of climate change: If industrial societies do not change course, climate change will become irreversible.
This triple challenge is a wake-up call: only digitalized companies will survive, grow, and make a positive contribution to society. Cedrik Neike, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO Digital Industries: “We have the right technologies. We need to use and scale them. We as an industry must fundamentally change. We must become more transparent and open to cooperation. Make better use of data. Siemens is ready. And we are ready to accompany our customers on this path.”
New technologies for digital transformation
In addition to the societal challenges, there are industry-specific issues: cost pressure, material shortages and a shortage of skilled workers. The ability to flexibly adapt to new challenges will become even more important in the future. The good news is that Siemens offers the right technologies to create customer value – become more profitable and more sustainable, increase transparency, and speed, and ensure availability and scalability.
With its highlight showcase – the SimRod e-car – Siemens shows the breadth and depth of its automation and digitalization portfolio. The SimRod allows visitors at the booth to experience the optimization of product and production over the entire life cycle. Digital Twins, Additive Manufacturing, and the use of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are revolutionizing planning and manufacturing in the automotive industry. Real and digital worlds, IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) are merging and enable endless optimization loops to hit profitability and sustainability targets.
In addition, Siemens will be presenting innovations at Hanover to ensure availability and scalability
- AI-based service edge app for drives: Siemens is expanding its predictive services portfolio with an edge application at Hannover Messe. Fewer production downtimes allow for 30% higher plant availability.
Comprehensive solutions for data availability and mobile data access enable large amounts of data to flow from the shop floor to the top floor, connecting IT and OT networks. This allows for greater transparency and speed.
- Industrial 5G: An industrial 5G router enables applications such as mobile robots in manufacturing. In addition, Siemens – together with Deutsche Messe – provide all companies with access to a private industrial 5G testing field.
Siemens establishes network with 14 partners to decarbonize value chains.
Yet, this Hannover Messe is not about a single innovation. Isolated technological solutions will not solve the challenges of industry. Only ecosystems will: moving away from individual value capture towards joint value creation. Nowhere is this more urgent than in the fight against climate change.
According to the World Economic Forum, industrial value chains account for about 20% of total global carbon emissions. Up to 90% of the CO2 footprint of a product stems from the upstream supply chain. Industry will only achieve its decarbonization targets if it reduces its overall footprint.
That is why Siemens – jointly with other members – is initiating the first open, cross-company cooperation network Estainium for the trustworthy exchange of climate-relevant data. Founding members are Merck Group, NTT Data, Weidmüller, WTS Global, ATS Automation Tooling Systems, TÜV SÜD, Bison Forest, CircularTree GmbH, ecobrain AG, Faber-Castell, Ferdinand-Steinbeis-Institut, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Sustainaccount and the University of Technology Sydney.
Estainium is the first ecosystem to enable the transfer of actual PCF data on a large scale instead of relying on average data. The decentralized approach with encrypted and verifiable certificates guarantees the trustworthiness of the data and the confidentiality of the supply chain.
In addition, the partners are founding an association of the same name to meet the need for standardization and security in the exchange of CO2 footprints. The Estainium Association is based on three pillars: “Technology and Infrastructure”, “Standards and Norms” and “Carbon Capture, Use, Storage and Compensation”. It uses the disruptive possibilities of digitalization to eliminate economic misallocations and the unsatisfactory and incomplete state of information about the quantity and quality of emissions and resources used along the entire supply chain.
Cedrik Neike: “As an industry, we will only become climate-neutral if we know where the emissions come from. With Estainium, we bring transparency to supply chains, we work in an open ecosystem, and we harness the power of data. This is our offer to customers, partners, and competitors. This is our contribution as a company for a better future.”
SOURCE: Siemens
