The intelligent factory
The manufacturing industry is on the threshold of a new era: The intelligent factory – which will slash time-to-market by digitizing and integrating entire production processes, from the first idea to the finished product – is just around the corner.
Leveraging recent advances in simulation technology, the intelligent factory will soon make it possible to translate products and manufacturing processes visualized, designed and tested in a virtual environment into their real-world counterparts. The result: optimized workflows, faster planning and implementation, virtually limitless production flexibility and substantial cost savings.
The idea of computer-integrated manufacturing – that is, of digitally interlinking the data for entire product and production lifecycles – goes back to the 1980s. At that time, computers, databases and communications networks were not powerful enough to bring the concept to fruition. But since then major advances have been made in computer integration. Computer-aided 3D visualization and simulation, for example, have long been standard tools for new product design.
As a result, complex products can now be tested in a virtual world under true-to-life conditions – a technique that’s used, for instance, to develop and optimize the efficiency of turbine blades and wind turbines without the need for expensive real-world testing. Siemens’ Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) platform comprises a proven, highly successful range of products and systems designed to efficiently automate all the production processes in the real-world factory. Excellent progress has already been made in merging the virtual and real-life environments. But there’s still a gap in the production life-cycle between the idea phase - in which products are first conceived and developed with the help of systems like computer-aided design - and the production phase - which takes place in both virtual and brick-and-mortar factories. The reason: software tools with incompatible interfaces continue to create barriers to data transmission.
Virtual planning and simulation – from the product to the overall manufacturing organization and individual factory floor machines – reduces prototype costs, cuts time-to-market and improves product quality.
From idea to finished product in record time
This is where the intelligent factory comes in: It will be able to integrate the digital planning data for any product – whether an automobile or a glass bottle – with the planning data for the real-world factory. The entire manufacturing process is generated and simulated on the PC together with the new product. Real-life production begins only after products have been manufactured and fully optimized in the virtual factory. In addition, several product versions can be tested simultaneously since different development steps can sometimes run parallel. Together, these factors dramatically shorten the transition from development to production – the most costly and time-consuming step in conventional manufacturing processes – and enable the intelligent factory to adapt more quickly to changing market requirements and ever-shorter product cycles. But the intelligent factory does more than just link product and factory planning. As a comprehensive network of digital models and methods, it also eliminates the discontinuities between virtual planning and real-world manufacturing. Information can be seamlessly relayed from simulation to reality and back again – to the benefit of both worlds. The knowledge and expertise gained in the process is then digitally stored so it can be used again for designing and planning new projects.
Acquisition of UGS Corp.
Siemens has been driving the development of virtual engineering methods for many years, working intensively with business partners and customers to merge the virtual factory and real-life manufacturing processes. And now – with the acquisition of UGS Corp. of Plano, Texas, a world-leading supplier of product lifecycle management (PLM) software – these efforts are about to pay off. By plugging digital PLM expertise from UGS into its own automation technologies, Siemens is poised to bridge the gap between the virtual world of product and production design and the nuts and bolts world of the factory floor.
BMW Spartanburg
The complete upgrade of BMW’s Spartanburg, South Carolina facility at the start of 2006 provided a preview of what the new partnership between Siemens and UGS holds in store. As part of the overhaul, key plant components – such as the complex marriage system that automatically joins car bodies with powertrains – were completely redesigned. Using software jointly developed by Siemens and UGS, the new machines were simulated on PCs and every step in the process was tested in advance. The results were impressive: BMW engineers completed real-world commissioning of all basic machine functions in only one day – a process that previously took more than a week.
In just a few years, the virtual commissioning of manufacturing systems – still a novelty at BMW Spartanburg – will be the industry standard. Virtual engineering and real-world manufacturing are morphing into one. And Siemens is pioneering the process. With its acquisition of UGS, the Company is now the first supplier in the industry sector to offer seamless hardware and software solutions covering the entire lifecycle of products and manufacturing facilities – an advance that will enable customers to boost efficiency to unprecedented levels.
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