SIEMENS

Solutions from the Siemens electronics plant in Amberg, Germany, are used in everything from the roller-coasters at Munich’s Oktoberfest to automotive factories. In fact, such solutions have a role to play anywhere that movements and sequences of steps are produced and controlled electrically. Altogether, roughly 2,500 workers in the eastern Bavarian town of Amberg make electromechanical devices for industrial production engineering. The variety of products they manufacture has increased considerably in recent years — with major consequences for associated production processes. “Orders have to be fulfilled more quickly,” says Peter Biersack, who heads Manufacturing and Test Planning. “What’s more, because the number of models is growing rapidly, the complexity of production workflows is increasing as well.”

For example, the standard range of switching devices comprises 40,000 products. So in order to set up production systems efficiently and at the lowest cost, engineers at the Amberg plant plan the production process digitally from start to finish with Tecnomatix, a product lifecycle management (PLM) solution. With Tecnomatix, process design, layout planning and capacity analyses can all be carried out with the best possible coordination. Planners can work out different production versions, which they can compare based on known parameters. In addition, they can calculate associated costs down to the smallest detail. What’s more, they can do all this at an early stage of the concept planning phase. The development time for a new product can thus be shortened, subsequent changes avoided, and the coordination of development and production improved overall.

Faster to Market. The secret to this success is a single, common database that is accessed by not just planners, but also developers. “To improve this process still further, we’re going to integrate all of the data into the Teamcenter PLM solution, which manages the entire product lifecycle digitally,” says Biersack. Teamcenter, the core system of a family of Siemens applications for PLM, is a suite of tools that has earned the company a leading position in this market worldwide. The solution brings together all of the product-related information from planning, development, and production to sales, service, and maintenance.

Data sources include design programs, enterprise resource planning systems for corporate management, and even “Office” applications used to create manuals and marketing documents. The across-the-board integration of data achieved by Teamcenter software brings with it huge benefits because the time required to develop a market-ready product can be cut considerably, which not only leads to a competitive advantage but also reduces costs and the amount of energy and resources needed. The software can also be used to identify a product’s potential effects on the environment.

In the development and construction of rail vehicles, the challenge is certainly not in the large number of product versions, as in the Amberg electronics plant. But here too, customers are asking for ever shorter delivery times, despite simultaneous increases in quality standards and technical complexity. In the case of trains too, development and production must therefore mostly be conducted in parallel. “That takes a lot of effort to coordinate,” says Reinhard Belker, who heads the Engineering department at Siemens’ Mobility production plant in Krefeld, Germany.

Here as well, the company therefore relies on across-the-board virtual product development that encompasses the entire life cycle of a train. Since everyone involved in the development of a product — even specialists from other locations — accesses the same up-to-date database, participants can be integrated more effectively into the design and construction process. In addition, virtual reality techniques are used for collaborative efforts that take place in Krefeld, Munich, Vienna, Prague, and Moscow. As a result, it is possible to create computer-generated true-to-scale 3D development models that can then be viewed and discussed by all the participants. These models are generated by “Teamcenter Visualization” PLM software from Siemens that provides a realistic representation of 3D data.

One of the tools from the Siemens PLM Software toolbox is the Mechatronics Concept Designer, parts of which were developed by Siemens Corporate Technology in Princeton, New Jersey. This application, which is currently unique on the market, makes the planning of machine tools faster and easier, because their functions can be simulated early on in the development process. The tool is remarkable in part because it uses physics-engine technology created by NVIDIA, a leading visual computing company. This technology is used in video games to simulate complex physical processes. It thus helps to portray realistic 3D environments, such as explosions that stir up dust, and characters with complex geometry and realistic joints for true-to-life movements.

Thanks to the Mechatronics Concept Designer, users can develop design concepts for machines in an extremely realistic environment. The program simulates machine behavior in real time in a three-dimensional model, allowing a developer to interact with a dynamic simulation as though playing a computer game. Once created, the objects can be deposited in a library, complete with all their mechatronic data. Such a library might contain information on, for example, grippers, movement paths, sensors and motors. The process cuts development time by up to 20 percent and improves the quality of results.

Technology for World Champions. There are now about 6.7 million licensed users of Siemens PLM software working in a variety of fields worldwide. Among them is the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team. After all, products are developed, modified, and manufactured faster in Formula 1 than anywhere else. Ever since its first Formula 1 season in 2005, Red Bull Racing has relied on Teamcenter as well as NX, a solution that can be used to interactively develop extremely sophisticated products and, at the same time, intelligently control the manufacturing processes.

Every day, around 180 engineers at Red Bull Racing give their all to make the cars of drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber that decisive bit faster. “We work with 15 main modules and around 4,000 components,” says Steve Nevey, head of Business Development and Chief Technical Director at Red Bull Racing. “The key thing is that our engineers and technicians access the same, up-to-date data, and that the designers notice as quickly as possible when something has been changed,” says Nevey. If, for example, the nose of a racing car is shifted, all the relevant variables are adjusted automatically. “As a result, we can quickly try out different design ideas and also test how individual components react to factors such as heat or vibration,” says Neil Dunsmuir, Marketing Manager for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Siemens PLM Software.

To prepare racing cars for a track, there is a special application for track simulation. If this application indicates that the car needs more ground pressure for the Monaco Grand Prix, for example, this information is immediately passed on to the NX developers, who can then adjust the design of the front wing accordingly. Engineers can thus tailor race cars to the individual conditions of any particular race track. Then, just by clicking a mouse, they can have new parts cut and pressed right immediately. No data has to be entered by hand or transferred into other IT systems. Within a few hours, the parts can be manufactured and fitted to the car.

At Red Bull Racing, the PLM solution has played an important role in the team’s succes. In the 2010 season, the British team won the Formula 1 Championship title in both the driver’s and constructor’s ratings.