SIEMENS

To be competitive, companies must reduce the time and cost associated with developing and manufacturing ever more complex products. Customer requirements are also becoming more demanding and nuanced. Production experts believe the solution is the merger of virtual planning and physical production processes. This is the idea behind the concepts of cyber-physical systems (CPS) and Industry 4.0.

Customized software is a must here – but generally not the horizontal IT systems which, like office programs and databases, can be used in many different applications. Even more important is vertical IT – i.e. solutions developed for particular industrial sectors and their special needs. Developing such solutions is the main task of the 17,500 software engineers at Siemens, which is now Europe’s second-largest software company after SAP. In order to consolidate and refine its vertical IT expertise, Siemens has acquired several software firms in recent years and integrated them into its Industry Sector. Most of these companies specialize in functions that cover specific subsections of larger software applications. “The combination of these software companies and Siemens’ automation expertise enables us to offer industrial software that covers the entire value creation process in product development and manufacturing,” says Marion Horstmann, Head of Strategy at the Industry Sector.

Siemens launched its new software strategy in 2007 with the acquisition of the U.S. company UGS, which today operates under the name Siemens Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Software. The most spectacular examples of the use of PLM software have been its application in Red Bull race cars and in preparations for the Curiosity Mars rover, which landed on the “red planet” in 2012. During the rover’s development, NASA used PLM software for everything from the first draft to simulations of its entry into the Martian atmosphere. Although such eye-catching projects generate a lot of attention, PLM software is in fact used by more than seven million licensed users who test product functionality as early as the planning stage in sectors such as the aviation and automotive industries. The software saves time in production planning by simulating processes in virtual plants. Customers who use Siemens automation systems benefit from such features in many ways. “The more you know about the properties of the machines that will be used to manufacture your products, the more precisely you can program your simulations,” says Lothar Hahn, Head of Sales and Services at PLM Software in Germany.

One of several companies that have been incorporated into Siemens PLM is Perfect Costing Solutions of Göppingen, Germany. A part of Siemens since September 2012, this company’s technology makes it possible to calculate the cost of manufacturing a new product as early as the product’s planning phase. “Cost calculation often used to be done at a very late stage,” says Hahn. This caused problems, because by the time developers brought in procurement specialists, the planning process was so advanced that changes would result in huge additional costs. The great thing about Perfect Costing Solutions’ software is that it continually incorporates all of the developments that impact costs. This means that procurement price analyses can be made at any time, and design and manufacturing alternatives can be calculated quickly.

In addition, new solutions – such as software systems from LMS in Leuven, Belgium, which is another Siemens PLM acquisition – now make it possible to answer questions such as: What effect will oscillations have on windmill rotors and nacelles? How quickly will such components wear down as a result of these effects? How loud will it get inside a new compact car when it drives over cobblestones? The associated tests, and other analyses, can be carried out realistically with computer simulations enabled by LMS software. Siemens acquired LMS in November 2012 and integrated it into Siemens PLM Software, where it now supplies simulation and mechatronic testing software to all the major automobile and aircraft manufacturers. The combination of real test rigs and software enables more precise analyses of acoustics, vibrations, oscillations, operational stability, and dynamics. The resulting database will help industrial companies simulate, test, optimize, and manufacture their products in the future.

Vistagy, a company in Waltham, Massachusetts, that became part of Siemens in November 2011, specializes in simulating the properties of composite materials, especially carbon fibers. Over half of a modern plane consists of carbon fiber; specially developed carbon materials are also in rotor blades for wind turbines. Plastics reinforced with carbon fibers are also becoming more important in the automotive industry. Vistagy offers the world’s only software that can simulate the specific properties of these composite materials from the development stage to the manufacturing process. Vertical IT solutions, such as those developed by Vistagy and Kineo C.A.M. (a French Siemens company that specializes in planning automated production setups), will be components of future manufacturing systems. “Major companies with extensive software expertise, such as Siemens, will be the key drivers of Industry 4.0,” says Horstmann.