Achieving high quality from the word go
Within the Cluster, CT specialists at locations in Munich, Erlangen, Moscow, Princeton, and Beijing design and optimize complete process chains not only for new products and equipment but also for the factories associated with these items. In addition to minimizing all types of technical and financial risks, Cluster experts also improve remote maintenance tools in order to reduce maintenance costs.
Whenever companies are planning new products, they not only have to focus on efficient and sustainable manufacturing operations, but also assess the associated risks and take into account the subsequent maintenance and servicing of the facilities and the products. With its seven Global Technology Fields (GTFs), the Processes & Production Cluster supplies the latest and most efficient systems, services, and analyses. As a result, it is possible to optimize manufacturing processes, hospital systems, high-speed trains, wind turbines, and other systems from the very start.
Many new solutions for bringing high-quality products to market as rapidly and flexibly as possible and at a low cost are now being developed in the virtual world by manufacturers.Their work here is facilitated by digital tools and the participation of suppliers and customers. The result is a huge variety of interlinked processes covering, for example, the management of innovations and specifications, design, simulations, production, tests, maintenance, and in some cases recycling. The products involved are also frequently associated with acomplex combination of mechanical, electronic, and software systems. The mission of the Processes & Production cluster is to optimize and provide innovations for all of these processes, which are in many cases interlinked
Almost all of the Processes & Production Cluster’s Global Technology Fields were involved in the creation of the new gearless threemegawatt wind turbine - a technologically very innovative and sophisticated product that Siemens launched on the market in April 2010. Specialists from CT worked on creating the best design for the components and simulated individual parameters such as material strength and load capacity. While this was going on, other colleagues conducted a design-to-cost analysis in order to determine and improve the product’s market prospects. Using their consulting expertise, the CT experts then determined how the new product could be manufactured so inexpensively that it could be successfully launched on the market.
Cost savings of about 20 to 30 percent are frequently possible during these early stages of development. By contrast, the savings that can still be achieved after the development process is finished - for instance, through improved procurement - are minor and marginal.
Planning factories on a computer
But perfect development doesn’t guarantee perfect production. That’s why specialists from CT design individual production concepts, including their implementation, and even draw up complete production processes.
In the case of very heavy products such as wind turbines weighing about 20 tons, the production hall must have a well-conceived layout so that distances can be kept to a minimum. Planners therefore use simulations to ensure that every piece of machinery is placed as ideally as possible.
To make factory planning easier, experts have developed IntuPlan, a program that uses actual 3D models of individual plant components. In this way, planners can more easily visualize the spatial nature of a future production hall than would be possible using just a computer screen. The results are subsequently transferred to the computer for further processing. In addition to the planning of the layout within the production hall, the location of the factory also plays an important role. This is why the CT experts compare production locations all over the world with one another and analyze their profitability. In the case of high transport costs, for example, it sometimes makes more sense to place production facilities close to the future market, even if factors such as labor costs are somewhat higher there.
But perfect production doesn’t guarantee perfect integration. Steps must be taken to ensure harmonized interaction between hardware and software; between mechanical, electronic, and information technologies; and between suppliers, developers, and plant construction firms. In other words, the complete solution, which often consists of technologies from different Siemens divisions and external suppliers, must be implemented and installed as one solution. Climate and environmental protection issues play a major role here as well.
CT experts use internationally accepted and successful procedures to assess, innovate, and accelerate the development processes associated with sophisticated systems that combine hardware, software, and electronics. Scientists have enhanced NASA’s technology readiness check so that it can be used with innovative products such as the new gearless wind turbine. This method enables experts to determine a new technology’s readiness long before its market launch.
Risk filter and remote maintenance
Perfect products also require perfect installation. The more complex a project is, the bigger is the risk that not all of the contractual stipulations can be met. In particular, the overall solution must be assembled and put into operation on time. To ensure that this is the case, experts from CT have developed “sira,” a method that helps them identify all of the risks in good time. During a “sira” workshop, participants discuss each component of the project in order to identify the risks and uncertainties of the entire process - from the initial idea to the finished product or facility. In addition to Siemens, other companies also assess large-scale infrastructure projects using the risk analysis method developed by CT experts.
Perfect installation doesn’t guarantee perfect operation either. Once a solution has been successfully installed at a customer’s premises, Siemens often provides services for many years in order to ensure that the system operates smoothly and economically.
Factors such as safety, reliability, and availability are crucially important here. Precise forecasts of how frequently breakdowns can occur and what the consequences would be are needed because they have a big impact on the economic performance of a solution or facility during its entire lifecycle.
These forecasts can serve as the basis for maintenance plans that ensure a system’s reliability. However, because this is no easy task in the case of complex facilities and systems, experts have developed appropriate processes indiand tools. These take several parameters into account - for example, the maximum permissible intervals between maintenance operations, holidays, the human resources available, and seasonal fluctuations in demand.
Any malfunctions that might still occur must be fixed quickly and efficiently. To make this possible, the company offers services such as remote maintenance, which is far more than just a hotline. With the help of high-performance data transmission and automated evaluation, experts can check a facility’s condition either continuously or at specific times. The team analyzes the data provided by a wide variety of sensors and operating parameters, and discovers and limits faults as quickly as possible - sometimes even before the faults have had any effect on operations. This practical experience, in turn, teaches the team how to make the systems and facilities even better in the future.
Experts at CT have specialized in enhancing such remote services. Their goal here is to create a comprehensive range of solutions that combine the expertise of CT with innovative technologies. These solutions include high-performance diagnostic systems, advanced surveillance technologies using software agents, and the Visual Service Support (VSS) system. The latter is a mobile data transmission system that sends live images and sounds via mobile radio directly to a service center. Experts at a service center can thus manage repairs remotely because their understanding of the situation at the plant is almost on a par with that of their colleagues on site.
CT experts plan factories and control centers, develop remote maintenance systems, and optimize wind turbine production.