I’m Simon Keogh, the General Manager of Siemens’ Factory Automation business in the UK. We have worked closely with TrakRap, a small machine-building company who are behind a revolutionary packaging system. I’d like to share how the two companies are collaborating during TrakRap’s digital transformation. I was first introduced to TrakRap’s CEO Martin Leeming at […]

The old days of machine building and CNC machining are over. The customary way of building a machine tool or cutting a workpiece, then testing and optimizing it by adjusting parameters and settings in an iterative way in the real world will soon belong to the past. The money now lies in the optimization of […]

The processes of machine tool manufacturing and operation are moving closer together. “Virtual spaces” are being created where machine builders and operators can design, coordinate, and implement customized solutions. As I explained in my last article, machine tool operators – and especially contract CNC manufacturing companies – will need to reconfigure their businesses in order […]

Often the ability of a smart factory is described as collecting data, analyzing and understanding them, aggregating them to meaningful information and predicting future events and finally even deriving decisions from them to influence and stabilize the future state-of-the-art process. In consequence, to succeed in regard to becoming a smart factory definitely depends strongly on […]

Why data consistency is key How many brand-new factories with a state-of-the art IT/OT infrastructure are built each year?  Quite a number, I am sure. But in most cases, our customers are facing the challenge to upgrade or extend existing production lines or plants. With our concept of Totally Integrated Automation we started a couple […]

The digital twin is everywhere. It brings benefits to designing houses or operating trams and it helps to develop and operate machine tools. You want to know more about that? Then you might enjoy reading this article! When I started work at Siemens, I was soon confronted with the term “digital twin”. I began to […]

Building Information Modeling (BIM), Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). It is no secret that gamers have played a significant role in driving major advancements in digital image processing. What was initially dismissed by industrial automation developers progressed quickly and professionally. Photorealistic, dynamic virtual worlds computed and displayed in real time are considered state […]

Modern technology help tram operators to ensure the transport of their passengers rapidly, reliably and comfortably – day by day. A digital twin feeded by Simatic Real-Time Locating (RTLS) supports the managem

How has digitalization made integrated engineering more efficient? The concept of integrated engineering refers to information and processes that are available in a single database with interfaces to various engineering and automation systems. Actions and activities done in the engineering phase can be more consistently executed in the operations and maintenance phase because of the […]

Remember that haunting Hollywood vampire tale from the 90s? Tom Cruise and Brad Pritt as beguiling immortals roaming fabled cities and centuries lusting for blood? Well, I guess, I’m the Christian Slater in that story. At the Siemens booth on the packing industry’s FachPack2018 fare in Nuremberg I had the honor to sit down for […]