Pictures of the Future   Fall 2007

In Brief

^? With the acquisition of UGS, Siemens has become the first company to unite the previously separate worlds of virtual product development and production planning with production automation. As a result, the development of new products and their associated production processes will become faster, more flexible, less expensive and more transparent to the customer. Real-time collaborative development of virtual products and processes supports these trends   ^{more at Trends and UGS and Siemens}

^? Siemens researchers and developers are moving toward full digital representation and optimization of the entire product lifecycle—from design and manufacture to sales, distribution, disposal and recycling. Products such as trains are already being planned virtually, down to the last detail   
^{more at Factory Planning, Product Development and Rail Systems}

^? Virtual simulation can also be applied to work sequences—not just in factories, but also in medicine, as is being demonstrated in a new particle therapy center in Heidelberg. Here, Siemens is simulating and optimizing patient throughput in order to make the center more efficient and give physicians more time for their patients   ^more

^? Workflows at Siemens’ Amberg location are exemplary. With quality indicators and capacity utilization at close to 100 %, the plant is not only one of Siemens’ most efficient facilities, but also the best factory in Europe—and that’s official. Its secret is innovation and highly motivated employees   ^more

^? Working together with a South Korean company, Siemens has developed a production process that eliminates the need for coking plants and sintering furnaces in pig iron production. Compared to other technologies, the new process is more efficient, cheaper, and easier on the environment   ^more

^? Reducing energy requirements at production locations, recycling used equipment, and developing and using power-saving equipment such as variable speed drives—these are all important steps when it comes to promoting sustainable manufacturing   ^more